If you have a child with autism or sensory processing disorder this list of Special Education Acronyms will help you familiarize yourself with the “lingo” you need to know.
I’m just going to be honest with you. My son’s first IEP Meeting was a nightmare!
I wasn’t prepared, and I didn’t understand what they were saying.
I mean, they might as well have been speaking a foreign language.
So. Many. Acronyms.
I couldn’t keep up.
The next day, as I was attempting to organize the 2.5 million pages of paperwork, I decided to make myself an acronym dictionary.
I spent three hours bouncing from one website to another. I couldn’t find one resource that had it all.
I needed a list of Special Education Acronyms that I could read without a magnifying glass and print without using several hundred dollars worth of ink!
Honestly, the more I read, the more I felt like I needed to go back to college to take a few SPED classes. You know, just to get up to speed.
I felt so behind and I hate that feeling.
See, I didn’t even know what The Individuals with Disabilities Act was about.
I do now, of course, but back then I was a new special needs mom who was stressing out over my son’s preschool placement.
I didn’t have anyone to call-none of my friends at the time had special needs kids.
I had been living a life of blissful ignorance.
Anyway..
If you’re feeling like I was and you need info ASAP-this is for you. See, I’ve gotten a lot more savvy as time has gone by and kind of made it my mission to help special needs moms.
Here’s the Acronym Guide I created. I made a pretty cover for it, but the actual acronyms are in black on a basic white background. Hopefully this won’t take up too much of your printer’s ink! (They’re so expensive!)
On the last page there’s a list of websites full of great legal and financial information. The links are not clickable, but you can easily copy and paste them into a new browser window. I hope to fix this soon – when I created this guide I had no idea how to insert hyperlinks!
Hopefully having a resource like this will help you with the stress and overwhelm of being a special needs parent. I know it’s tough and trust me, the learning curve at the beginning is scary for everyone. But it does get better.
What are you struggling with today? How can I help?
What To Read Next
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Heather, what a great resource. Just an FYI – the links were not active for me. Was that your intention?
Hey Karen! No…They should be active!!! Thanks for letting me know! I’ll check it out ASAP!!!!
FIXED IT!!!
Well done, Heather. But, um, maybe it was me after all. I just realized that if you hover over the line of text, it doesn’t change color, so you can’t tell that it’s an active link. But if you click it, it does link. Maybe before I just didn’t click. I hate to suggest more work when you’re feeling so powerful (which you ARE) but is there a way to change the hover color? That way people would know that it’s active. Sorry 🙁 I know, it never ends sometimes. Just ignore this until another day. Enjoy your success!!
This would be so valuable to those who are needing help! #thatfridaylinky
What a fascinating read really interesting Thanks for linking to the #THAT FRIDAY LINKY come back next week please
I think my mum could have done with this when we were all young. It is a brilliant resource thank you for sharing it at #familyfun
I hope it helps somebody!!!
Fantastic resource that would be invaluable to a parent of a special needs child
Thanks for linking up to #AnythingGoes 🙂
Debbie
This will be a great resource for other parents who are struggling with things that you struggled with in the past! If is very kind and self-less of you to take the time to help others in this way. <3
This is very thoughtful and informative. I’m sure you will help out a lot of people with your list #globalblogging
I hope so!
I work in Education and I can’t tell you how overwhelmed I felt when I first started in my job – because of the acronyms. SO MANY! Thanks for linking up to #GlobalBlogging
Did you take a special class? I mean, they are SO confusing!!! I need flashcards!!!
What a great resource! Needs to be shared over and over again! #globalblogging