Achievement Test
A test that measures the extent to which a person has acquired certain information or mastered certain skills, usually as a result of planned instruction or training. These tests are often called educational tests.

Aptitude Test
A test designed to measure a person's ability to learn and the likelihood of success in future school work or in a specific career.

Attention Deficit Disorders (ADD)
A term frequently used to describe the academic and behavioral problems of children who have difficulty focusing and maintaining attention. Also called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD).

Auditory Discrimination
Ability to detect differences in sounds; may be gross ability, such as detecting the differences between thv noises made by a cat and dog, or fine ability, such as detecting the differences made by the sounds of letters "m" and "n."

Auditory Figure-Ground
Ability to attend to one sound against a background of sound (e.g., hearing the teacher's voice against classroom noise) .(5)

Auditory Memory
Ability to retain information which has been presented orally; may be short term memory, such as recalling information presented several seconds before; long term memory, such as recalling information presented more than a minute before; or sequential memory, such as recalling a series of information in proper order.

Criterion Referenced Test
Designed to provide information on specific knowledge or skills possessed by a student. Such tests usually cover relatively small units of content and are closely related to instnuction. Their scores have meaning in terms of what the student knows or can do, rather than their relation to the scores made by some external reference group.

Cross Dominance
A condition in which the preferred eye, hand, or foot are not on the same side of the body. For example, a person may be right-footed and righteyed but left-handed. Also called mixed dominance.(2)

Dysarthria
A disorder of the speech muscles that affects the ability to pronounce words.(2)

Dyscalculia
Difficulty in understanding or using mathematical symbols or functions. A child with dyscalculia may be able to read and write but have difficulty in performing mathematical calculations.

Dysfunction
Any disturbance or impairment in the normal functioning of an organ or body part.(2)

Dysgraphia
Difficulty in producing legible handwriting with age-appropriate speed.

Dyslexia
Impairment of the ability to deal with language (speaking, reading, spelling, writing).

Dysnomia
Difficulty in remembering names or recalling appropriate words to use in a given context.

Dyspraxia
Difficulty in performing fine motor acts such as drawing, buttoning, etc. A person with dyspraxia has difficulty producing and sequencing the movements necessary to perform these kinds of tasks.

Encoding
The process of expressing language (i.e., selecting words; formulating them into ideas; producing them through speaking or writing). (See Expressive Language.)(1)

Etiology
The study of the cause or origin of a condition or disease.(2)

Expressive Language
Communication through writing, speaking, and/or gestures.(2)

Far Point Copying
Writing while copying from a model some distance away, e.g., copying from the blackboard

Figure-Ground Discrimination
The ability to sort out important information from the surrounding environment. For example, hearing a teacher s voice while ignoring other classroom noises (air conditioners, heaters, etc.) or seeing a word among others on a crowded page.(2)

Hyperkinesis
Another term for hyperactivity.(1)

Hyperactivity (or Hyperkinesis)
Disorganized and disruptive behavior characterized by constant and excessive movement. A hyperactive child usually has difficulty sticking to one task for an extended period and may react more intensely to a situation than a normal child.(2)

Hypoactivity
Underactivity; child may appear to be in a daze, lacking energy.

Insertions
In reading/ spelling, or math, the addition of letters or numbers which do not belong in a wordornumeral, e.g., sinceare for sincere.

Inversions
In reading, spelling, or math, confusion of updown directionality of letters or numbers, e.g., m for w, 6 for 9, etc.

IQ
Intelligence quotient. The ratio between a person s chronological age (measured in years) and mental age (as measured by an intelligence test), multiplied by 100.(2)

Kinesthetic Method
A way of teaching words by using the muscles. For example, a student might trace the outline of a word with a finger while looking at the word and saying aloud the word or its letters, in sequence.(2)

Laterality
The tendency to use the hand, foot, eye, and ear on a particular side of the body. For example, many people use their right hand when eating and their right foot when kicking.(2)

Learning Style
The channels through which a person best understands and retains learning. All individuals learn best through one or more channels: vision, hearing, movement, touching, or a combination of these.

Mixed Laterality or Lateral Confusion
Tendency to perform some acts with a right side preference and others with a left, or the shifting from right to left for certain activities.(10)

Near Point Copying
Writing while copying from a model close at hand, e.g., copying from a textbook.

Perceptual Handicap
Difficulty in ability to process and organize as well as interpret information through the senses.

Perceptual-Motor
Muscle activity resulting from information received through the senses.(2)

Perceptual Speed
Specific meaning of this term varies, depending upon the manner in which a given test measures this ability. May refer to motor speed, how fast something is copied or manipulated, or to visual discrimination, e.g., how quickly identical items in a given series are identified, etc.

Phonics Approach
Method for teaching reading and spelling in which emphasis is placed on learning the sounds which individual and various combinations of letters make in a word. In decoding a word, the child sounds out individual letters or letter combinations and then blends them to form a word.

Psychomotor
Pertaining to the motor effects of psychological processes. Psychomotor tests are tests of motor skill which depend upon sensory or perceptual motor coordination. (3)

Reasoning Ability
Specific meaning of this term varies, depending upon the manner in which a given test measures this ability; generally refers to nonverbal, deductive, inductive, analytical thinking.

Receptive Language (Decoding)
Language that is spoken or written by others and received by the individual. The receptive language skills are listening and reading.(7)

Regrouping
In arithmetic, the processes traditionally known as carrying in addition or borrowing in subtraction.

Remediation
Process in which an individual is provided instruction and practice in skills which are weak or nonexistent in an effort to develop/strengthen these skills.

Reversals
Difficulty in reading or reproducing letters alone, letters in words, or words in sentences in their proper position in space or in proper order. May also refer to reversal of mathematical concepts (add/subtract. multiply/divide) and symbols (>; x+). See also Transposition.(1)

Scatter
Variability in an individual's test scores.(11)

Semantics
The meaning or understanding given to oral or written language.

Sensorimotor
Relationship between sensation and movement. Sometimes spelled sensory-motor.(2)

Sensory Acuity
The ability to respond to sensation at normal levels of intensity.(3)

Sequence
The detail of information in its accustomed order (for example, days of the week, the alphabet, etc.).(1)

Sight Words
Words a child can recognize on sight without aid of phonics or other word-attack skills. (8)

Sight Word Approach
Also known as whole word approach; method for teaching reading which relies heavily upon a child's visual memory skills, with minimal emphasis on sounding out a word; child memorizes the word based on its overall configuration.

Slingerland Method
A highly structured, multisensory teaching method designed for group instruction of persons with specific learning disabilities. Named for its developer, Beth Slingerland.(2)

Social Perceptions
The ability to interpret stimuli in the social environment and appropriately relate such interpretations to social situations.

Socio-Cultural
Combined social and cultural factors as they affect the development of a child in all areas of life.(1)

Sound Blending
The ability to combine smoothly all the sounds or parts of a word into the whole.(8)

Specific Language Disability (SLD)
Difficulty in some aspect of learning how to read, write, spell, or speak. Is also called Specific Language Learning Disability.

Standardized Test
A test that compares a child's performance with the performance of a large group of similar children (usually children of the same age). Also called a norm-referenced test. IQ tests and most achievement tests are standardized.(2)

Structure
Consistent use of rules, limits, and routines. The use of structure reassures a child with learning disabilities that the environment is somewhat predictable and stable.(2)

Structural Analysis
Using syllabication, prefix, suffix, and root word clues, etc. to read or spell a word.

Substitution
in reading, spelling,or math, interchanging a given letter, number, or word for another, e.g., sereal for cereal.

Syntax
Grammar, sentence structure, and word order in oral or written language.

Transposition
In reading, spelling, or math, confusion of the order of letters in a word or numbers in a numeral, e.g., sliver for silver, 432 for 423, etc.

Visual Association
Ability to relate concepts which are presented visually, through pictures or written words. For example, given a picture of a dog, house, flower and bone, the child is able to indicate that the dog and bone go together.

Visual Closure
Ability to see only the outline of an item or picture, or a partially completed picture, and still be able to indicate what it is.

Visual Discrimination
Ability to detect similarities and/or differences in materials which are presented visually, e.g., ability to discriminate h from n, o from c, b from d, etc.

Visual Figure-Ground
Ability to focus on the foreground of material presented visually, rather than background. Those who have difficulty with this may find it hard to keep their place while copying or reading, may find a crowded page of print or illustrations confusing, etc.

Visual Memory
Ability to retain information which is presented visually; may be short term memory, such as recalling information presented several seconds before; long term memory, such as recalling information presented more than a minute before; or sequential memory, such as recalling a series of information in proper order.

Visual Motor
Ability to translate information received visually into a motor response. Difficulties are often characterized by poor handwriting, etc.

Visual Perception
Ability to correctly interpret what is seen. For example, a child sees a triangle and identifies it as a triangle.(2)

Word Attack Skills
Ability to analyze unfamiliar words visually and phonetically.(2)

Word Recognition
Ability to read or pronounce a word; usually implies that the word is recognized immediately by sight and that the child does not need to apply word analysis skills. Does not imply understanding of the word.