Public health education can be considered an ambiguous term. It teaches the proper way to improve one’s health, and can involve only one or two people, or the population of several countries. Anything that can seriously threaten the physical, mental, or spiritual health of a wide range of people, notably due to their interactions with one another, can be classified as a threat to the community’s public health. This is why public health education becomes a necessary tool to aid people against the spread of potential diseases and illnesses. Five of the most important reasons of how public health education can prove beneficial are as follows:

1. People are able to learn how to prevent the spread of communicable diseases through the training and methods being taught in education. People are able to have better access to information regarding general prevention of diseases, including the knowledge of what to do and how to act during epidemics in their area. Certain diseases have their own individual prevention methods that people should be well aware of, and employing these techniques lessens the risk of being infected by possible diseases. Through public health education, even simple things such as wearing a flu mask in particularly affected areas, or knowing when to take vaccines for a particular illness that is prominent at that time of the year, always proves very effective in limiting the number of people affected annually.

2. More people are able to access private and public medical institutions to prevent diseases or medical conditions, or to better treat them. Without the benefits of a public health education, most people may feel healthy enough and not find the need to go for a general check-up. Being aware that it is necessary to see your doctor regularly is one of the important things learned in a good public health education. Most medical hospitals and clinics offer immunization or vaccine shots during the flu seasons, or when a general outbreak of hepatitis is going around, and a public health education ensures that more people know to go to these facilities and avail of the treatment, thereby lessening the amount of ill people.

3. People are able to adopt a healthier behavior to lessen the risk of diseases being spread among themselves. Keeping things cleaner around the house, opting to lessen or quit smoking altogether, or exercising more are just a few of the many different ways taught in public health education to combat sickness and improve one’s lifestyle.

4. People become more aware of information relating to the disease, rather than believing in just public perception. Public health education not only deals with how to prevent illnesses, it also provides details of how a disease works, which may dispel some myths and fallacies about it in society. The HIV virus for example, can be spread through unprotected sexual intercourse, but not through activities such as kissing or touching. This also helps change a person’s views towards someone infected, promoting more empathy rather than discrimination.

5. People are able to help and contribute to disease prevention by supporting or volunteering at health care facilities. Public health education is more than just spreading information; it also calls people to actively participate in aiding others. To be able to protect one’s health, it is also necessary to protect the health of other people around you, and helps foster a more close-knit community and a better sense of camaraderie.

It would be easier to deduce the benefits of music education, once you are clear about the basic qualities of music.

Music Soothes

Music is an ever-expanding field. What do you do when we want to relax? An immediate reply would be: listen to good music. And why? Because you tend to forget that a world exists outside, especially when the music is soft, lilting, and melodious.

This has been proved through research too. Wondrous are the effects of music on the human mind. Music creates positive energy and releases it to the individuals. That is the reason why music therapies are being adopted in every field.

Multi-faceted Benefits

Music improves the efficiency and attitude of the people. Its effects are especially felt and useful in treating sick and afflicted persons, because both the young and the old like it.

Music education helps us to learn new concepts and forms of music. You can learn and enjoy the serenity of music while sitting in your living room. Music education can be complete only if the learner grasps it properly. Efficient tutors can simplify complicated concepts and present them in a suitable manner.

Music education helps in creating awareness, and develops a person’s attitude by making him or her appreciate the finer things of life. Music is not merely an art, but a fine art too! By learning the basics, nuances, and forms of music through music education, you can enjoy the benefits bestowed by music in a holistic way.

Music Quotations

You can understand the benefits of music looking at some excellent quotations.

Music is God’s gift to man, the only art of Heaven given to earth, the only art of earth we take to Heaven. -Walter Savage Landor

Music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart.-Pablo Casals

Music is the soul of language.-Max Heindel

Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak. -William Congreve

Character education in many primary schools bores children. It affects them the way Freshman History affected my college friends and me. We vowed that no one could make history more boring than our professor made it. On special occasions, however, the professor changed gears. He employed a teaching method that turned insipid to thrilling in an instant. That same method can convert character education into a subject that excites young children. In fact, character education teachers can make young children beg for more by using regularly the method our college professor saved for special occasions.

Teachers can readily transform today's blah into tomorrow's bling.

Today's Blah

Character education lesson plans often begin with our college history professor's regular, blah teaching method.

The teacher talks . In this case, the teacher talks about character education. Teachers grab free character education lesson plans wherever they can find them, and follow instructions such as these found on the internet:

Talk about how respect sounds.

Talk to students about how respect looks.

Talk about respectful facial expressions

Talk to them about tone of voice that shows respect.

Talk to students about respectful body language.

Character education teachers talk, and talk, and talk. While they talk, young children react as we did regularly in college history class. They assume bored positions, wishing the subject did not exist.

Most young children, like many college Freshmen, have not yet developed the skills needed to learn by the talking-teacher method. They did not learn to walk by having Mother talk to them about how walking looks. They did not learn to talk by having Father explain about how talking sounds. Talking did not potty train them either. Yet, character education lesson plans urge the teacher to talk – and talk – and talk.

"After you have explained," continue character education lesson plans like the above, "discuss respect with your students."

The teacher discusses . Our college professor tried that, too. After talking about history, he tried to engage us in discussion. Many of us, awakened from talking-induced cat naps, were neither ready nor able to participate in discussion.

Three-to-eight-year-old children will be no more ready to discuss character education after your teacher-talk. Did they learn to walk, to talk, and to feed themselves by discussing it with their parents? No. In spite of that, character education lesson plans urge the teacher to discuss – and discuss – and discuss.

Such an approach is boring to any age. It is blah, and nobody enjoys blah character education.

Tomorrow's Bling

Character education lesson plans can be changed overnight if teachers are willing. If you are a character education teacher, and you truly care about your students, you can make that change happen. How?

Introduce our history professor's "special occasion" method, and blah is transformed into bling. History catches the light, sparkles, and becomes desirable.

What method can work such a transformation? What secret weapon made history exciting on special occasions?

Did he show a video? No. He could have, but history videos can be as tedious as history lectures.

Did he ask us to role play historical moments? No. We were bored with historical figures as he had presented them, and would have had no heart for role playing.

Our college professor used a story book.

Picture it. Our history professor read from a story book on special occasions. He did not reach for just any book and try to extract history from it. He used a book that was purpose-written to express accurate history in easy-to-swallow format. The book was ambrosia to students who viewed history as a dull, lifeless subject. We loved stories such as the one about Columbus that began this way.

"On September 9, 1492, as the last land dropped below the horizon, Christopher Columbus began keeping two logs. One log, which he kept secret, was a true reckoning of his course and distance. The other was a falsified account of the ship's location written so the crew would not be frightened at sailing so far from land. " Source: Samuel E. Morison, Christopher Columbus (Boston: Mentor, 1955), p. 36.

We got excited about history when it was packaged in story format – and character education excites young children when it is packaged in purpose-written stories.

Tried-and-True Technique

Stories have long been considered a tried-and-true technique for presenting information. The technique has been proven especially good and desirable for use with young children. Stories help them learn – and remember – valuable information.

Visit a famous Internet bookseller, type in the word "potty" and what do you find? You find dozens of books that use stories to teach young children how to use the toilet and graduate from diapers. Search for books on "brushing teeth" and you get similar results. Type in "swimming" and a little duck named Stewie will teach them water safety.

Stories written for the express purpose of teaching a specific topic (purpose-written) employ a method that has been used since antiquity – because it works!

Conclusion

Character education that excites young children is based in books. Books let children filter stories through their own imaginations, and identify with the characters as they learn high moral values. Books make character education more desirable and more memorable than any other vehicle the teacher can use.

Are you a parent who has a child with autism or other disabilities that receive special education services? Have you experienced parental retaliation by special education professionals in your school district, because you have advocated for your child? This article will educate you on the US Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) definition of retaliation, and also what standard they use to determine if parental retaliation has occurred. In addition this article will discuss whether retaliation can be decreased, so that you can truly be a meaningful participant in your child's education!

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act which is enforced by the Office of Civil Rights states that: "504 prohibits recipients or other persons from intimidating, threatening, coercing or discriminating against any individual for the purpose of interfering with any right or privilege secured by Section 504 , or because the individual has made a complaint, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding or hearing under Section 504.34 CFR 100.7 (e). " One of the protected activities under Section 504 is advocacy, and retaliation is prohibited if you advocate for your child.

The Office of Civil Rights has released information that OCR complaints have increased at a very large rate (which I believe is due to the amount of parental retaliation that special education professionals engage in). The types of retaliation I have seen are calls to Child Protective Services (CPS), banning parents from school grounds, and possibly punishment to a child. Parents need to stand up to this retaliation and gather evidence of the retaliation, so that they can file an OCR complaint.

OCR uses a five point test to determine if a parent has experienced retaliation:

1. "Has the parent engaged in a protected activity?"

2. "Is the district aware of the protected activity?"

3. "Was the parent or student subjected to an adverse action?"

4. "Will a neutral third party decide there is a causal relationship or connection between the protected activity and the adverse action?"

5. "Can the school district offer a legitimate non-discriminatory (non-retaliatory) reason for the adverse action, which a neutral third party will not consider to be pre-textual?"

A few comments about the five point test:

1. Under # 1 advocacy is considered a protective activity as well as filing a state complaint or a due process complaint.

2. Under # 2 most special education professionals know of parent's advocacy especially if the parent has filed a complaint or due process.

3. Under # 3 the adverse action means a negative action such as suspending a child or calling CPS and making a child abuse complaint.

4. Under # 4 the retaliation must be closely-timed to the protected activity of advocacy, or OCR could rule against you on your complaint.

5. Under # 5 this in some cases is what causes a parent to lose the complaint – If the school can come up with a plausible non-discriminatory reason for the action, and then the finding may be against the parent.

OCR recently released a Dear Colleague letter (April 2013) about retaliation that can be downloaded at, http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201304.html . This is a great resource that can ensure successful advocacy.

The only thing that will decrease retaliation is enforcement, which is usually left to the parent. I do believe that you should file an OCR complaint for ever retaliation action done by special education professionals (that you can prove of course). Work hard to secure written evidence to prove your case, as well as include the five point test in your retaliation claim, (with all of your evidence listed, and attached of course). Parental retaliation often occurs in the dark, and if light is brought to it, the situation very well could improve! Never stop fighting for your child-he or she is worth it!

What is a Socratic seminar? A Socratic seminar is a formal discussion based on a topic where the leader asks open-ended questions. Throughout the Socratic seminar students will listen closely to the comments of others, think critically, and articulate their own thoughts and their responses to the thoughts of their peers. Students will learn to work cooperatively and ask questions intelligently and civilly. The Socratic seminar allows students to apply practical methods of a topic being discussed and enables the students to view certain points from several different perspectives. Throughout the discussion the teacher should minimally intervene, and when doing so it should be to lead the students to a specific topic or ask an additional open-ended question about a topic already being discussed. Giving the students the freedom to participate in a Socratic discussion will increase student involvement and student learning.

A Socratic discussion can be utilized in any subject including history, language arts, sociology, etc. but I would like to discuss the use of a Socratic discussion in a health education class. Incorporating a Socratic seminar in your health education class will be prevalent in most topics such as living a healthy life, building good character, physical activity, nutrition and health, managing stress, emotional problems, relationships, obesity, drug use, environmental health etc. this is because these topics are very relevant to your students everyday life. You can lead your students into a discussion with these topics with a current event article, after a discussion lecture, after watching a you tube clip, and relating it to something that may be going on or happening in your school. In addition these are all topics that I’m sure your students have interest in, hear about, and participate in on an everyday basis. With a proper questioning technique by the leader (teacher) you will be able to generate a very scholarly discussion among your students, you may be surprised how passionate some of your students are about specific topics.

The key to getting your students to participate and really get involved is to ask the right questions that will generate discussion. Once you are on a specific topic in class begin a Socratic seminar by asking a question on that topic, once a few students have responded start asking questions such as what do you mean by that? How does this relate? Could you give me an example? Could you explain further, what is he/she assuming? Why do you think that right? What lead you to that believe? What’s an alternative? Are you implying this? Etc. Again you may be shocked how some students may passionately agree with some of their peers responses and comments, or disagree and begin to debate which may be a good learning experience for the students because they will begin to view the topic/discussion from multiple perspectives which may enhance the learning experience.

The purpose of a Socratic seminar is to get your students engaged in a higher level of thinking to promote learning. Incorporating Socratic seminars into your class will lead your students in discussion, debate, critical thinking, acquiring greater interests, and the ability to apply practical methods. “He who learns but does not think is lost” Confucius (551-479 BCE).

Video Conferencing has always been considered as an upmarket technology; beyond the reach of common people, especially in the rural sector. However, the circumstances have started to show some positive bends lately. Technology has stepped into the rural domain and has also started impacting the lives of the masses. The basic purpose of video conferencing solutions is an enhanced virtual connectivity. Beforehand, the far-flung villages suffered from the unavailability of necessary amenities which the virtual connectivity has brought to their doorstep.

The greatest impact of the audio-visual technology can be seen in the rural education sector. Rural communities have always suffered from the lack of qualitative education within accessible distance. Stories of people traveling miles in search of qualitative education and training aren’t rare. Girls in most Indian villages, fail to get educated in hi-end technologies since their parents are unwilling to let them travel to distant schools and colleges. Video Conferencing Solutions for Education have been able to curtail these drawbacks to a considerable extent.

Benefits of virtual collaboration for education in the rural sector

Experts at doorstep

The AV collaborative solutions have bridged the gap between education and the learners. This technology and the solutions based on it have transformed the authentic brick and mortar classrooms into global learning platforms. Through Live video collaboration, the rural students can learn directly from the experts in various genre’, ask questions and resolve problems without changing their locations; thus avoiding the traveling cost.

“Classroom without walls”

This is a concept that made around 125 students from 3 schools on the Kenai Peninsula spend a night at school to wake up at 4 a.m. for attending a video conference with the students in Nazareth, Israel (The Journal.com). This collaborative technology has not only pulled up the rural students to the standards where high-end education is not only limited to their privileged urban or suburban peers but also helped them realize the importance and urgency of cross-cultural collaboration. We can thank this technology for helping rural students become responsible global citizens.

Parents’ are in control

While the students are leveraging video conferencing solutions to acquire higher education, parents can relax to see their children not shift base for higher education. In the pre-virtual collaboration scenario, helplessly worried parents had no option but to allow their children relocate to big cities to satisfy their learning sprees. This also made some parents reluctant about letting their children pursue higher education. Thus, curbing their growth, which in its turn affecting the growth of rural education as a whole. With children collaborating virtually, the parents are also aware of their children’s academic progress. They can also be a part of virtual performance tracking of their wards and have discussions with the educators.

Teachers can grow as well

Apart from a better exposure and interaction with remote students, there are quite a few things that the teachers can really leverage from a hi-end video conferencing solution for education. Remote collaboration can help teachers, especially who are rurally located, enhance their skills. The teachers can, thus, not only impart education but also be a part of different forums or peer-groups to act upon fruitful knowledge exchange.

Helping children with special needs

Children with special needs, located rurally, find it exceptionally tough to access varied learning scopes. With easily accessible video conferencing solutions, they can now register for various workshops, learning forums, discussion session without relocating. They can overcome their feeling of isolation by joining peers around the world who have similar needs and be a part of the global learning junket.

Initiatives to promote digital learning

Educational institutes around the world are focusing on encompassing digital learning into their curriculum. In India, E-Kranti program under the Digital India campaign is designed to focus on digitizing rural education. Under this program, free Wi-Fi will be provided to 2.5 lakh schools in the next five years. Also, devices like tablets will be distributed among rural students and plans for initiating Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to help them overcome the demographic constraint and learn from global industry experts and eminent mentors. Players like Google and Facebook are also partnering with the Central Government to make the initiative successful.

Centrally Sponsored schemes, Rashtriya Uchchatar Siksha Aviyan (RUSA) and not-for-profit organization, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) are set-ups to fund and upgrade the education, training, and skill development initiatives in the country, including the digital learning undertakings.

Digital Learning endeavors around the globe are gaining grounds. Developed countries like the USA, Australia, New Zealand and the countries of the European Union have already started leveraging the benefits of incorporating digital learning trend in their existing curriculum. Countries from Africa, Latin America and Asian Subcontinents to are following the current trend.

As learning is the basis of knowledge, education is the structure from which knowledge flows.

Accumulating information is like having a marble connection, what do you do with it once you have it? The byproducts of education – awareness of varying concepts, appreciation for ideas, understanding divergent philosophies – all are powerful foundations for growth and change.

Intelligence contains within itself the ability to listen and reason, the knowledge to act within reason and the power to create. From education comes wisdom and from that wisdom, solutions are born that propel us forward, whether constructing a building or nurturing an idea.

With Knowledge Comes Responsibility

True knowledge is fearless, made strong by the absence of doubt and fortified by pillars of information. Cultivating it simply requires an open mind and a desire to learn. Channeling knowledge towards meaningful expression is always the challenge.

As William S. Burroughs, American writer and visual artist, once stated, “The aim of education is the knowledge, not of facts, but of values.”

Every physical structure, every scientific achievement, every philosophical advancement, all have one thing in common; they were brought into existence by educated opinions based on knowledge. The evolutionary path of civilization would have been dramatically different had experiments and new ideas been based on ‘guessing’ or ‘gut feelings’, rather than analytical observation.

Scientific Facts Shape Our Future

A great example of education-based evolution is Darwin’s well-known Theory of Evolution. It is one of the most substantiated theories in the history of science. Hard to imagine such a ground-breaking and historical hypothesis being put forth without the benefit of informed analysis from knowledgeable professionals.

During the beginning of his research, Darwin was much more an observer than a geneticist. He could document the pattern of evolution, but did not possess the scientific training to understand and subsequently translate his observations. Without the corroborative knowledge to support his theory, it would have proven difficult to answer the inherent questions of ‘how’ or ‘why’ it happened.

Evidence gathered from various scientific disciplines, including paleontology, developmental biology, geology, and genetics, enabled scientists to advance Darwin’s stream of ‘theoretical consciousness’ into mainstream discussion. Questions were raised and explanations were given. It is easy to imagine Darwin’s groundbreaking theory never becoming more than coffee-table talk in the absence of fact-based science.

Where Learning Leads… Wisdom Follows

The dictionary defines ‘foundation’ as the basis or groundwork of anything. Education is defined as the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge (in conjunction with) developing the powers of reasoning and judgment. Together, they form the bedrock of learning-based understanding… the path to wisdom.

Wisdom is the grand enabler. With it, all is possible. Without it, nothing is achievable. Wisdom created the pyramids and thrust us into space. It taught us to fly and how to come back down to Earth safely. Wisdom is the evolution of education and architect of our reality.

As a child learns and develops a foundation for life, so too, does learning bring forth the knowledge needed to explore the foundation of the universe. Step by step and lesson by lesson, studying the various aspects of life in all its natural and man-made grandeur, establishes a base of knowledge impervious to self-doubt and distraction.

The infrastructure of human existence will forever depend on the strength and wisdom forged from our educational structure.

Want to take a course from MIT, one of the most revered technology schools in the world? You don't have to have almost-perfect SAT scores, you don't have to have a 4.0 GPA, you don't have to pay the $ 50,000 tuition – in fact, you don't even have to be enrolled as a student . Sound too good to be true? MIT has put its entire course catalog online so that anyone who wishes to check out class lectures, class notes, assignments and other materials will be able to via their computer.

Online education continues to change the way educators and students envision higher education and MIT's open courses are just one of the many ways that traditional ground schools are adapting to advances in technology. Due to the expansion of online education, OpenCourseWare Consortium, a non-profit organization committed to advancing global education opportunity, was created to give students worldwide the opportunity to access higher education courses and relevant material.

MIT isn't the only prestigious ground school to get involved. Stanford, Tufts, Yale, the University of Michigan and Harvard also offer many, if not all, of their courses online for free. So, why give away something that many students pay so much for? "My deep belief is that as academics we have a duty to disperse our ideas as far and as freely as possible," says Rebecca Henderson a business professor from MIT and Harvard.

Sharing the world's knowledge is the goal of OpenCourseWare Consortium. Obtaining copyrights from more schools and then delivering the material effectively as well as long-term funding are issues which are still being dealt with. Initial funding came from the private sector by way of affluent schools and organizations like the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. But, say Consortium directors, "relying on philanthropy is not sustainable."

To address sustainability, copyright issues, and course effectiveness of the Open Education movement activists, educators, and scientists will converge in Barcelona for meetings on education, accessibility, and trends in Open Education. Open Ed 2011 and the Drumbeat Learning Freedom and the Web Festival will convene to address the future of education and the web and the "decisions needed to make open education a reality" as well as' impact and sustainability. "

Mary Lou Forward, executive director of the OpenCourseWare Consortium is planning to attend both meetings. Unequal access to education is one of the most prominent reasons OpenCourseWare was developed, bringing free education to the masses is a concept that is always on Forward's mind. "What I think about all the time," she says, "are ways to bring education to people."

While open courses don't provide actual course credit or an eventual degree to students, they are used by many to self-learn or to find areas of study that may interest them in their eventual degree track. Additionally, open courses give underprivileged students or students with traditionally little access who may be incapable of attending college an opportunity to study and learn exactly what their peers elsewhere are studying.

OpenCourseWare hopes to eventually make national and worldwide higher education courses freely available to students and learners across the globe.

Are you the parent of a child with autism or another disability that is frustrated by the special education system? More than 6 million students with disabilities receive special education services in federally funded special education programs. This is about 9% of the country’s school age population. This is a lot of children who depend on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), to help them get the services that they need to live a fulfilled life. As any parent of a child with a disability knows much improvement needs to be made to the special education system. This article will discuss 6 ways to improve the special education system.

Needed to improve the special education system:

1. More available parent training and more resources to pay for the training! Parent trainings are available but in most cases do cost, which prevents some parents from attending. Parents must understand their rights under IDEA in order to be effective advocates for their child.

2. More effective enforcement of IDEA, to include the withholding of funds from states and school districts, who are continually non compliant! The enforcement of IDEA basically does not exist. It is the federal governments responsibility to enforce IDEA to the states, and it is the states responsibility to enforce IDEA of local school districts. Neither one does very much in this area. Enforcement without withholding of funds will not work. In my experience it will not take many states losing their IDEA funding, before major positive changes will occur.

3. Improved diagnosis of disabilities and an easier eligibility process! Many children with disabilities throughout the US are told that they do not have a disability, therefore are not eligible for special education services. This reality hurts children with disabilities and may forever ruin their lives! Parents often do not even know that they can disagree with the schools opinion! The eligibility process needs to be made more child friendly!

4. Special education personnel must set realistic high expectations for all children with disabilities! Congress has said from the beginning that school districts expectations of children with disabilities are too low. School personnel and parents must believe that children can be successful in their education and lives, if given an appropriate education, and keep expectations high.

5. Focus on outcomes of special education so that all children will be ready for post school learning and independent living! For the year 2005-2006 55% of children with disabilities graduated from high school, in comparison to a little over 70% of children without disabilities graduated from high school. This will limit the children’s ability to go to college or get a job, which will affect the rest of their lives!

6. Improve the federal funding of IDEA! The current estimates are that the federal government only pays about 17% of per pupil costs for special education. The federal government needs to put their money where there mouth is, and fund IDEA fully!

All parents can be involved in advocating for systemic special education improvements. Notify your state and federal representatives and see how they are willing to get involved, in this process. Children with disabilities deserve to receive an appropriate education and live their lives to the fullest!

Do you sometimes wonder what some of the Acronyms in special education mean? Do the acronyms make your head spin? This article will discuss common special education acronyms and what they mean. This will make it easier for you to actively participate in your child with disabilities education.

1. FAPE: stands for Free Appropriate Public Education. Each child has the right under IDEA to receive a free appropriate public education.

2. IDEA: stands for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act; which is the federal law that applies to special education.

3. IDEA 2004: This is the federal law that was reauthorized in 2004. If you see this in an article, it usually means that something was changed in IDEA, by the reauthorization in 2004.

4. LEA: stands for the local educational agency, which is your local school district.

5. SEA: stands for the state educational agency, which is your states board of education.

6. IEP: stands for the Individual Educational Plan, which must be developed for every child that receives special education services.

7. LRE: stands for Least Restrictive Environment. LRE means that children with disabilities need to be educated in the least restrictive environment, in which they can learn. LRE starts at the regular classroom, and becomes more restrictive.

8. NCLB: stands for the No Child Left Behind Act.

9. IEE's: stands for an Independent Educational Evaluation. These are proposed and paid for by parents, to help determine their child's disability or educational needs.

10. IEE's at Public Expense: stands for an IEE where the school district pays for it. There are rules that apply to this, that you must learn before requesting an IEE at public expense. Many special education personnel try and do things that are not allowed under IDEA, so you need to educate yourself.

11. ASD: stands for Autism Spectrum Disorder, which some school districts use in their paperwork.

12. ADD: stands for Attention Deficit Disorder.

13. ADHD: stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

14. PWN: stands for Prior Written Notice. Parents must be given PWN when the school district wants to change things in the child's IEP. (such as eligibility, change services, refuse to change services etc.).

15. ABA: stands for Applied Behavioral Analysis that is an educational treatment for Autism.

16. SID: stands for Sensory Integration Disorder. A lot of children with Autism have difficulty with sensory integration.

17. SPD: stands for Sensory Processing Disorder which is the same as above, but some people in the special education field, call it different names.

By understanding the acronyms used by special education personnel, you can be a better advocate for an appropriate education for your child.