Education: Alternative and Special Education

System of learning a craft or trade from one who is engaged in it and of paying for the instruction by a given number of years of work.

From The Dictionary of Alternatives
A term meaning ‘self-education’ or ‘self-directed learning’. The great age of auto-didacticism in England was during the formation of radical working-class organizations and movements at the end of the eighteenth and in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Alternative type of American public school that, while paid for by taxes, is independent of the public-school system and relatively free from state and local regulations.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather guide
Form of education using technology to teach students who are dispersed geographically.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Online training delivered to personal computers over the Internet, with the advantage that classes can be taken at any time and in any place, so that students are able to learn at their own pace.

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
The practice of teaching children in the home as an alternative to attending public or private elementary or high school. In most cases, one or both of the children's parents serve as the teachers.

Training designed to advance individuals' general proficiency, especially in relation to their present or future occupations. The term does not normally include training for the professions.

From Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology
In educational terms, it is the opposite of ‘exclusion’ – instead of trying to get rid of difficult or problematic youngsters, it means including all types of learners, whatever their background, difficulties or disabilities.

From Encyclopedia of Special Education
Two major features of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEIA; 2004) are in place to ensure the most appropriate education of children with disabilities.

From Encyclopedia of Special Education
Mainstreaming was the popular term used for the legal doctrine of least restrictive environment (LRE).

From Encyclopedia of Special Education
Corrective and remedial instruction are both forms of academic assistance provided to students who need special help in various areas of instruction.

From Encyclopedia of Special Education
Reverse mainstreaming is a procedure that introduces nondisabled students into special classrooms to work with students with severe disabilities.

From Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology
Special education is a service provided to students with educational disabilities.

(ADHD), formerly called hyperkinesis or minimal brain dysfunction, a chronic, neurologically based syndrome characterized by any or all of three types of behavior: hyperactivity, distractibility, and impulsivity.

One of a spectrum of disorders defined by problems with communication, imagination, and social interaction. The symptoms may be present from birth or may develop in early childhood, around the third year.

Partial or complete loss of sight. Blindness may be caused by injury, by lesions of the brain or optic nerve, by disease of the cornea or retina, by pathological changes originating in systemic disorders (e.g., diabetes) and by cataract, glaucoma, or retinal detachment.

Partial or total lack of hearing. It may be present at birth (congenital) or may be acquired at any age thereafter.

From Encyclopedia of Special Education
A term representing an umbrella category referring to a diverse group of physical, cognitive, psychological, sensory, and speech impairments that begin anytime during an individual’s development up to 22 years of age.

Congenital disorder characterized by mild to severe mental retardation, slow physical development, and characteristic physical features.

From Cambridge Encyclopedia of Child Development
Although the majority of children learn to read without difficulty, a substantial minority (between 4 and 10 percent) have significant problems.

From Encyclopedia of Special Education
Children and adults classified as learning disabled (LD) are those individuals who are of normal intelligence but suffer mental information processing difficulties.

Below average level of intellectual functioning, usually defined by an IQ of below 70 to 75, combined with limitations in the skills necessary for daily living.

From Encyclopedia of Special Education
A variety of interchangeable terms have been used to describe persons with physical handicaps.

From Encyclopedia of Women's Health
Currently, approximately 15 million girls under the age of 20 in the world have a child each year.

From The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
The term second language acquisition (SLA) refers to the processes through which someone acquires one or more second or foreign languages.

From Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science
Despite general agreement that reading, writing and speaking a second language involve much more than the mastery of vocabulary and syntax, little attention has been directed towards understanding the sociocultural contexts of learning and the discursive practices that occur in classrooms and communities.

From A Dictionary of Sociolinguistics
North-American term, usually found as the acronym TESOL. TESOL is a general term for the teaching of English to speakers of other languages in a range of contexts.