Glossary

Additional support needs (ASN)

In the Scottish education system this term is used when children and young people need more – or different support to what is normally provided in schools or pre-schools to children of the same age.

Appropriate intervention

Approaches which meet the needs of the learner and help reduce the development of further barriers to learning

Assessment

The process of collecting and interpreting evidence of learners performance

Atypical behaviour

Behaviour that is deemed to be out of character or not expected

Auditory processing

Heard or perceived by the ears and processed by the brain

Automaticity

Becoming automatic in a skill

Books for All

Free Scottish data base for accessible digital materials available for learners with a print disability

Career long professional learning (CLPL)

Terminology used for professional learning for educational practitioners. This used to be called Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and is now commonly referred to as Professional Learning

Chronological reading and spelling

Actual age

Classroom practitioners

Staff supporting learners in the class room -teachers & and support staff

Cognitive ability

Intellectual capability

Collaborative

All involved are working together in partnership.

Consultation

Opportunity to discuss and share views and ideas.

Creativity

Originality, vision, inventiveness and innovation in arts, science, math and design and other areas of the curriculum.

Curriculum

All of the experiences which are planned for children and young people through their education. It is not specific to subject areas but applies to activities that take place across the school including lunch times, afterschool clubs and excursions.

Curriculum for Excellence

The Scottish curriculum comprises a broad general education up to the end of S3 followed by a senior phase. There is aAn increased emphasis is placed on inter-disciplinary learning, skills development and encouraging personal achievement.

Differentiation

The adjustment of teaching and learning strategies and resources to suit the accessibility and learning needs of pupils.

Digital Exams

Digital SQA exam papers and assessments. For pupils with disabilities or Additional Support Needs (ASN) who have difficulty using the ordinary exam papers or assessments. Answers and responses can be typed on a computer or iPad.

Disability

Impact on the individual’s daily life is significant/severe – 2010 Equality Act.

Dyslexia

Scottish working definition 2009

Dyslexia-friendly approaches

Learning and teaching approaches which are designed to enable learners to interact with them using a range of senses and skills. These approaches also support a wide range of learners.

Early identification

Identifying and supporting additional support needs as they arise - not waiting until a specific age /time to identify and support needs.

Free digital voices

Free voices which can be downloaded to use with a text reader to read text on screen e. E.g. Word, PDF files – SQA dDigital exams and, electronic books. They cCan also be used with communication aids and to create audio files.

Free writing

Handwriting produced by the learner in their everyday work. If using as evidence for assessment arrangements this is produced without supports e.g. IT and, spell checkers.

General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS)

GTCS carries out a wide range of statutory functions and initiatives to register, promote, support and develop the professional learning of teachers in Scotland.

Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC)

National approach in Scotland to improving outcomes and supporting the wellbeing of our children and young people by offering the right help at the right time from the right people. It supports them and their parent(s) to work in partnership with the services that can help them.

Hereditary

Inherited /genetic

Holistic

Looking at the learners profile as a whole.

Inclusion

‘Schools should accommodate all children regardless of the physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic or other condition’. UNESCO

Inclusive practice

Removing barriers to enable the learner’s full participation with the school curriculum and school community. To ensure they learn to the best of their ability and achieve positive outcomes.

Initial teacher education (ITE)

Post Graduate university led courses for students who wish to become teachers

Jagged profile

Information which highlights that there is a marked variation of proficiently across a learner’s skill set. The profile will highlight areas of strength and weakness which may not be similar to peers in the same stage/level.

Key person

An adult who understands the learner well or who spends more time supporting the learner than most staff. e.g. this may be a member of pastoral care or support staff.

Level playing field.

Providing support and opportunities for a learner to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding in a way which is fair and equitable. This approach does not create an ‘unfair advantage’.

Literacy

The set of skills which allows an individual to engage fully in society and in learning, through the different forms of language, and the range of texts, which society values and finds useful. (Curriculum for Excellence)

Literacy circles

Reading and writing circle developed by the Addressing Dyslexia Toolkit working group. The circles aim to support teachers understanding of literacy skills and identify areas of strength and difficulties in a learner with whom they are working.

Multi-sensory

Using all of the available senses to aid learning – hear it, see it, say it, write it: - do it, act it out, shape it with dough, trace it, type it on the computer, feel it etc.

Needs led

Support is provided based on the level of need a learner has. A formal identification/diagnosis is not required to receive support in the Scottish education system.

Neurodevelopmental

The development of the brain or nervous system.

Number skills

Developing confidence and competence with numbers. Understanding the number system.

Observations

Watching and interpreting a learner’s behaviour and how they interact with learning in the school and home environment.

Oral language skills

How well the learner can speak, have conversations and demonstrate their range of vocabulary and knowledge.

Organisational ability

Refers to an individual’s ability to manage: a task they are involved in; their time; items they need for school and clubs; items they need around them to help them learn; the structure of how they write a story/essay.

Pedagogy

The study of the theory, methods and activities of education

Phonological awareness

Refers to the general ability to attend to and discriminate between the sounds of language (as distinct from its meaning).

Processing skills

How the brain processes and uses a range of information e.g. text, sound, object or event.

Professional standards

The GTCS maintains a suite of Professional Standards which are underpinned by the themes of values, sustainability and leadership. Professional values are at the core of the Standards.

Professional update

Every 5 years Scottish GTCS registered teachers are required to demonstrate they have engaged in ongoing professional learning and reflected against the appropriate GTCS Professional Standards.

Reading comprehension levels

Ability to understand and gain meaning from what has been read.

Reading fluency

Ability to read text accurately and , quickly and with expression.

Route Map for Dyslexia and Inclusive Practice

Professional learning resource published by Education Scotland in 2015.

School community

All people involved in the school – staff, children and young people, volunteers, partners, local community police and third sectors organisations.

Screener

A ‘screener’ or ‘screening’ typically consists of looking at a group of indications that may mean that a child is showing signs of being dyslexic. It is not the same as a dyslexia assessment that will involve a thorough investigation of the child’s cognitive functioning, as well as, considering various other factors. Screening can, however, indicate that a child requires specific help or intervention that can then be monitored and, if appropriate, full assessment can follow later. Screening can often be done with groups of children rather than individually.

Sequencing and directionality

Ability to carry out a task in a particular order and understand the spatial direction e.g. orientation, left and right.

Short-term memory

Ability to hold, but not manipulate, a small amount of information for a short period of time.

Working memory

Process the information stored in the short term memory into meaningful stimuli.

Snapshot

Information gathered in a set moment in time. However the information may not be a true reflection of a learner’s strengths and difficulties which is gathered over a period of time.

Spatial awareness

The ability to be aware of oneself in space. It is an organised knowledge of objects in relation to oneself in that given space. Spatial awareness also involves understanding the relationship of these objects when there is a change of position.

Specific learning difficulty

A term which is used to refer to a range of learning differences/difficulties such as Dyslexia, dyspraxia ADD and ADHD.

Staged levels of intervention

A process within the Scottish education system which helps identify, assess, plan, record and review the learning needs of children and young people. It aims to meet a child’s needs at the earliest opportunity and with the least intrusive level of intervention. The process involves the child, parents and carers, school staff and, at some levels, other professionals. All work in partnership to get it right for every child.

Standardised assessment

A test which is administered and marked in a consistent manner. Standardised scores and percentile rankings are usually provided. These tests often need to be purchased.

Visual processing

Seen or perceived by the eyes and processed by the brain