ADHD

Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. An extreme lack of ability to concentrate, combined with compulsive restlessness. Both ADHD and ADD are frequently treated with drugs, of which Ritalin is the best known. There is a significant body of opinion which believes the problems are caused, in part or wholly, by additives in foodstuffs such as crisps, sweets and fizzy drinks.

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Asperger's Syndrome

A condition characterized by normal intelligence and language development, but marked deficiencies in social and communication skills and difficulties with transitions or changes. Those with the syndrome often have obsessive routines and become preoccupied with a particular subject of interest. (Learn more via OAASIS, on our Links page)

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Auditory discrimination 

The ability to hear the difference or similarity between sounds in phonemes, syllables and words..

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Auditory memory 

The ability to remember sounds which have been heard, whether the sounds of letters in a word, or the sounds of several words.

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Auditory perception 

The ability to discriminate similar sounds, as three and free. There is not necessarily a hearing problem.

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Auditory processing 

Listening to, understanding, relating and reacting to information acquired through hearing.

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Diagnostic

Used of a test designed to identify strengths or weaknesses, as opposed to one which merely provides a score.

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Dyscalculia

An inability to perform the operations of arithmetic.

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Dysgraphia

An inability to handwrite with consistent legibility.

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Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling.

• Characteristic features of dyslexia are difficulties in phonological awareness, verbal memory and verbal processing speed.

• Dyslexia occurs across the range of intellectual abilities.

• It is best thought of as a continuum, not a distinct category, and there are no clear cut-off points.

• Co-occurring difficulties may be seen in aspects of language, motor co-ordination, mental calculation, concentration and personal organisation, but these are not, by themselves, markers of dyslexia.

• A good indication of the severity and persistence of dyslexic difficulties can be gained by examining how the individual responds or has responded to well founded intervention.

• [ref: Rose 2009]

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Dyspraxia

A condition characterised by difficulties with co-ordination, frequently with evidence of significant planning and perceptual problems.

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EHCP (Education Health Care Plan)

An EHC Plan will replace current Statements of SEN and Learning Difficulty Assessments. The plan will be a legal document describing a young person’s needs, the provision to meet those needs and the most suitable educational placement. Government has stated that the Plan must be person centred, focusing on the needs and aspirations of the child. EHC Plans will continue into further education and training, and for some young people up to the age of 25. If a child/young person has a health or social care need only, they will not get an Education, Health & Care Plan unless these needs impact on their education.

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IQ

Intelligence Quotient. A number relating the ratio of a person's intelligence to the average for their age. Average is 100. A Full Scale IQ is calculated from performance on up to 12 sub-tests, half providing a Verbal Score and the other half a Performance Score. The Performance sub-tests do not require verbal or literacy ability.

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Laterality

The side of the body preferred by the user. This usually refers to the eye, ear, hand, or foot. Someone is cross-lateral if they are not one-side dominant eg right-handed and right-eyed but left-eared.

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Motor

Of the muscles. Motor memory is what the body has learned to do by frequent repetition. Fine motor skills usually involve the fingers and hands, requiring small or delicate movement such as handwriting or winding a watch; gross motor skills describe large movements, as of the arms and legs, such as using shears or throwing/kicking a ball.

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Multi-sensory 

The use of several senses together in learning or problem-solving. So, saying letters aloud when spelling involves the eyes, the hand, the mouth and the ears. The stronger senses reinforce the weaker.

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Percentile

A ranking position in 100 people. Someone scoring at percentile 75 is achieving better than 74 in that hundred; 25 would be expected to score better. By extension, this ranking includes the ranking position in the population as a whole.

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Phoneme

The minimal sound unit of a language. O is a phoneme represented by a number of graphemes such as toe, known, boat.

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Phonics

Use of the sounds of letters, their blends and combinations, to build up words.

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Phonological awareness 

The ability to recognise different sounds within words

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Raw score

The number of marks obtained, usually the number of correct responses on a test. On a standardized test, a raw score can be converted into a standardised score, from which a percentile can be obtained.

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SENCO

Special Needs Co-Ordinator; the teacher responsible for a school's arrangements and provision for pupils with special educational needs.

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Short-term memory

Storage of information for a short time only [for children this includes instructions to stay clean, for men any verbally-presented domestic instructions, and for women the punch-lines to jokes]. Short-term memory can be auditory or visual and is for storage and repetition; it might include names or telephone numbers. Information must be firmly established in short-term memory before it can be transferred to long-term memory. For SpLD students, this can require considerable patient repetition

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Sound/symbol confusion 

A difficulty in knowing what sounds symbols make, or which symbols to use to represent sounds: weec for weak

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SpLD

Specific Learning Difficulties: that is, learning difficulties caused by a specific weakness such as memory, visual or auditory perception or the ability to sequence letters, words or ideas. Once known as SLD, sometimes given as an acronym for Some Learn Different, and a constructive viewpoint from which to approach their teaching.

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Standardised score 

(usually abbreviated to SS on reports) A score obtained, using tables, to turn a raw score into one which enables meaningful comparisons across different age levels. Standardised scores usually range between 60 and 140, with 100 being average (Percentile 50). 50% of subjects fall into the average band (90 to 110 - Percentile 25 to Percentile 75)

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Standardised test 

A test which has been tried out on a sample of a particular population (for example British school children aged between nine years and 12 years). Scores are distributed from the results - the raw score can then be converted to a standardised score; frequently this can then be converted to a percentile. Standardised tests enable those taking them to be compared in ability to others of similar age.

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Stanine

A nine-point scale reflecting percentiles and standardised scores. The average band is 4 to 6, with 5 being average (Standardised scores 97 to 103, Percentiles 41 to 60)

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Statement

A Statement of Educational Needs is a document issued by an LEA to say that a child has special educational needs more profound than can be accommodated by standard provision. The child has been assessed and his/her needs are detailed, as is the provision necessary to meet them. The ease with which a statement can be obtained varies from one LEA to another.

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Visual discrimination 

The ability to detect the differences in shape, size and formation of symbols (letters, numbers or shapes) and objects.

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Visual spatial difficulties 

Difficulty in recognising and distinguishing written symbols; in reproducing letters or groups of letters correctly; confusing or reversing letters, and confusing the order of letters in reading and writing.

VSM - see Visual Sequential Memory

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Visual sequential memory 

The ability to remember images, whether letters, numbers or objects, in a given order. Memory of orientation is as necessary as of sequence.

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Working memory 

The memory required if information is to be added to or manipulated, such as when problem-solving.

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