Education in Credo: Alternative and Special Education

System of learning a craft or trade from one who is engaged in it and of paying for the instruction by a given number of years of work.

From The Dictionary of Alternatives
A term meaning ‘self-education’ or ‘self-directed learning’. The great age of auto-didacticism in England was during the formation of radical working-class organizations and movements at the end of the eighteenth and in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Alternative type of American public school that, while paid for by taxes, is independent of the public-school system and relatively free from state and local regulations.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather guide
Form of education using technology to teach students who are dispersed geographically.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
Online training delivered to personal computers over the Internet, with the advantage that classes can be taken at any time and in any place, so that students are able to learn at their own pace.

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
The practice of teaching children in the home as an alternative to attending public or private elementary or high school. In most cases, one or both of the children's parents serve as the teachers.

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia
The formal teaching of religion in schools. In voluntary-aided church schools in the UK, religious education (RE) syllabuses are permitted to follow the specific teachings of the church concerned; in other state schools, the syllabus is agreed between representatives of the local churches and the education authority. In the USA, religious education within the doctrines of a particular church is prohibited in public (state-maintained) schools because of the separation of church and state guaranteed under the First Amendment to the constitution; however, the study of comparative religion is permitted.

Training designed to advance individuals' general proficiency, especially in relation to their present or future occupations. The term does not normally include training for the professions.

From The Dictionary of Alternatives
A Democratic school, originally founded in Hellerau near Dresden by A. S. Neill (1883–1973) in 1921. Neill was the headmaster at the Gretna Green school in Scotland, but left to pursue his idea that happy, free children are more likely to learn, and less likely to suffer the various problems associated with coercive education and emotional repression.

From The Dictionary of Alternatives
A radical educationalist and social thinker. His first and most famous book, Deschooling Society (1971), argued for the replacement of prison-like institutions for education by lifelong learning webs.

From Collins Dictionary of Sociology
(1921-1997) radical educationalist. His best known work Pedagogy of the Oppressed was translated into English in 1972. Freire used learning to facilitate the development of consciousness amongst oppressed and marginalised groups.

From A Dictionary of Sociolinguistics
A second language (frequently abbreviated to L2) is the language of an individual or a community that is not acquired from birth, but at some stage subsequent to the first (or native) language. 'Second-language (acquisition)’ may be used as a cover term for any language learnt subsequently to the first, since it has traditionally been argued that the principles of acquiring a second, third (etc.) language are similar.

From Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science
Despite general agreement that reading, writing and speaking a second language involve much more than the mastery of vocabulary and syntax, little attention has been directed towards understanding the sociocultural contexts of learning and the discursive practices that occur in classrooms and communities.

From A Dictionary of Sociolinguistics
North-American term, usually found as the acronym TESOL. TESOL is a general term for the teaching of English to speakers of other languages in a range of contexts.

From Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology
In educational terms, it is the opposite of ‘exclusion’ – instead of trying to get rid of difficult or problematic youngsters, it means including all types of learners, whatever their background, difficulties or disabilities.

From Encyclopedia of Special Education
Two major features of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEIA; 2004) are in place to ensure the most appropriate education of children with disabilities.

From Encyclopedia of Special Education
Mainstreaming was the popular term used for the legal doctrine of least restrictive environment (LRE).

From Encyclopedia of Special Education
Corrective and remedial instruction are both forms of academic assistance provided to students who need special help in various areas of instruction.

From Encyclopedia of Special Education
Reverse mainstreaming is a procedure that introduces nondisabled students into special classrooms to work with students with severe disabilities.

From Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology
Special education is a service provided to students with educational disabilities.

(ADHD), formerly called hyperkinesis or minimal brain dysfunction, a chronic, neurologically based syndrome characterized by any or all of three types of behavior: hyperactivity, distractibility, and impulsivity.

One of a spectrum of disorders defined by problems with communication, imagination, and social interaction. The symptoms may be present from birth or may develop in early childhood, around the third year. In rare cases, autistic individuals may show extraordinary talents in some areas. A condition of neurodevelopment, autism is more common in males, with onset typically in infancy. It is diagnosed when a child or adult has abnormalities in a ‘triad’ of behavioral domains: social development, communication, and repetitive behavior / obsessive interests.

Partial or complete loss of sight. Blindness may be caused by injury, by lesions of the brain or optic nerve, by disease of the cornea or retina, by pathological changes originating in systemic disorders (e.g., diabetes) and by cataract, glaucoma, or retinal detachment.

Partial or total lack of hearing. It may be present at birth (congenital) or may be acquired at any age thereafter. A person who cannot detect sound at an amplitude of 20 decibels in a frequency range of from 800 to 1,800 vibrations per second is said to be hard of hearing.

From Encyclopedia of Special Education
A term representing an umbrella category referring to a diverse group of physical, cognitive, psychological, sensory, and speech impairments that begin anytime during an individual’s development up to 22 years of age.

Congenital disorder characterized by mild to severe mental retardation, slow physical development, and characteristic physical features. Down syndrome affects about 1 in every 730 live births and occurs in all populations equally.

From Cambridge Encyclopedia of Child Development
Although the majority of children learn to read without difficulty, a substantial minority (between 4 and 10 percent) have significant problems.

From Encyclopedia of Special Education
Children and adults classified as learning disabled (LD) are those individuals who are of normal intelligence but suffer mental information processing difficulties.

Below average level of intellectual functioning, usually defined by an IQ of below 70 to 75, combined with limitations in the skills necessary for daily living. Daily living skills include such things as communication, the ability to care for oneself, and the ability to work.

From Encyclopedia of Special Education
A variety of interchangeable terms have been used to describe persons with physical handicaps.

From Encyclopedia of Women's Health
Currently, approximately 15 million girls under the age of 20 in the world have a child each year.