The decoder: every acronym, in plain English

School

IDEA

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act — the federal special-education law everything else in this section hangs on. Part C covers birth to 3 (in Tennessee, that’s TEIS). Part B covers ages 3 to 22 (that’s IEPs).

FAPE

Free Appropriate Public Education — IDEA’s core promise. Your child’s education, and the services that make it work, cost your family nothing.

IEP

Individualized Education Program. The legally binding plan for a student who qualifies for special education: goals, services, minutes, accommodations, and who does what. Reviewed at least once a year. Full guide here.

504 plan

Accommodations under Section 504 for a student with a disability who doesn’t need specialized instruction — extra time, preferred seating, a break pass. It’s a civil-rights plan rather than a special-education plan, so it’s usually shorter and has fewer procedural protections. Compared side by side here.

IFSP

Individualized Family Service Plan — the under-3 version of an IEP. Written with the family, aimed at everyday routines rather than school goals, and it supports the whole family, not just the child. See the TEIS guide.

LRE

Least Restrictive Environment. IDEA’s requirement that your child be educated alongside non-disabled peers as much as is appropriate. Separation has to be justified — it isn’t the default.

FBA

Functional Behavior Assessment. A structured look at what a behavior is actually accomplishing for a child — what sets it off and what it gets them — done before anyone writes a plan about it.

BIP

Behavior Intervention Plan. What comes out of an FBA: what the team will change in the environment, what they’ll teach instead, and how everyone will respond. It attaches to the IEP.

ESY

Extended School Year. IEP services that continue over the summer for students who would lose hard-won skills without them. It is decided by the team and it is not automatic — ask.

TEIS

Tennessee Early Intervention System — the state’s IDEA Part C program for birth to 3. Free, and you can refer your own child; you do not need a doctor to do it for you. Full guide here.

ECSE

Early Childhood Special Education — public preschool special-education services for ages 3 to 5. This is generally where children land when they age out of TEIS at three.

SPED

Just shorthand for special education, used by people who work inside schools. “The SPED teacher” means the special-education teacher. No hidden meaning.

School-based OT, PT, and speech

The same therapies you’d get in a clinic, delivered at school and written into the IEP. The difference that surprises families: school services exist to give your child access to their education, so they’re scoped more narrowly than clinic therapy. Plenty of families run both.

MTSS / RTI

Multi-Tiered System of Supports, and Response to Intervention — the tiers of extra help general education tries before or alongside a special-education referral. Genuinely useful, and also the most common reason an evaluation gets postponed. You can put an evaluation request in writing at any point during it. Here’s the letter.

Procedural safeguards

The written notice of your legal rights in special education. The district has to give it to you at referral and once a year after that. It’s dense — read it once on a calm day, before you need it. We translate the parts that matter.

IEE

Independent Educational Evaluation — an outside evaluation at public expense, which you can request when you disagree with the school’s own. How to ask.

Money & coverage

TennCare

Tennessee’s Medicaid program. If your child is approved, they’re assigned to a health plan, and that plan — not the state — is who you actually call about doctors, referrals, and services. Full guide here.

MCO

Managed Care Organization — the private health plan that administers your child’s TennCare benefits. When someone says “call your MCO,” they mean that plan.

Katie Beckett

The TennCare program that looks at your child’s needs instead of your income. Part A is full TennCare plus home services; Part B is flexible yearly funds. Full guide here — including why a TennCare denial along the way is a step, not a wall.

ECF CHOICES

Employment and Community First CHOICES — TennCare’s long-term services and supports for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Enrollment is capped, so families apply years before they need it. Full guide here.

Family Support

The DDA Family Support Program: a state grant of up to $6,000 a year for a family of a child or adult with a severe disability, spent on what your family chooses — respite, equipment, home modifications. Full guide here.

IEA

Individualized Education Account — Tennessee’s education savings account for students with disabilities. Instead of the funding staying inside the district, an approved family directs an account toward approved educational expenses. Full guide here.

ABLE / ABLE TN

A tax-advantaged savings account owned by the person with the disability, where money does not count against SSI and Medicaid asset limits the way ordinary savings do. Anyone can contribute. Full guide here.

SSI

Supplemental Security Income — a monthly federal cash benefit from Social Security, with a strict $2,000 countable-resource limit for an individual. That limit is the reason ABLE accounts and special-needs trusts exist. See the life-planning guide.

EOB

Explanation of Benefits — the statement your insurer sends after a claim, showing what was billed, what they paid, and what’s left. It is not a bill, even though it looks exactly like one. More here.

Superbill

An itemized receipt from an out-of-network provider, with the codes your insurer needs, that you submit yourself for possible reimbursement. Ask for one every visit — it costs nothing to have. More here.

Prior authorization

Your insurer’s advance approval before it will cover a service. A missing one is among the most common reasons a therapy claim comes back denied. More here.

Deductible, copay, coinsurance, out-of-pocket max

The four words that decide what a therapy hour actually costs you, and the four everyone nods along to without checking. Each one is defined plainly in the private insurance guide.

Clinical

ASD

Autism Spectrum Disorder — the diagnostic term currently in use. “Spectrum” means a profile of different needs in different areas, not a line running from mild to severe.

ADHD

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. It shows up alongside autism often enough that families and clinicians shorthand the combination as AuDHD.

SPD

Sensory Processing Disorder, or more usefully, sensory processing differences. Eight sensory systems, each with its own threshold — which is how the same child chases spinning and flees a hand dryer. Full guide here.

AAC

Augmentative and Alternative Communication — every way of communicating that isn’t speech: gestures, signs, picture boards, letter boards, apps, devices. The research is consistent that it supports speech rather than replacing it. Full guide here.

ABA

Applied Behavior Analysis — the most commonly funded autism therapy in Tennessee, and the most argued-about. Our guide lays out both sides and the questions to ask any provider.

BCBA

Board Certified Behavior Analyst — the clinician who designs and supervises an ABA program. The person whose name you want on your child’s plan.

RBT

Registered Behavior Technician — the person who delivers most of the day-to-day ABA hours, under a BCBA’s supervision.

SLP

Speech-Language Pathologist. Their scope is far wider than pronunciation: understanding and using language, AAC, social communication, and feeding and swallowing.

OT

Occupational Therapist. For a child, “occupation” means the work of childhood — dressing, eating, handwriting, play, and sensory regulation. Local OTs are in the directory.

PT

Physical Therapist — gross motor skills: strength, balance, walking, stairs, coordination.

DIR / Floortime

A developmental, relationship-based approach built on following the child’s lead in play and building connection first, rather than teaching target behaviors. Local providers here.

PDA

Pathological Demand Avoidance — though many families and autistic adults prefer “persistent drive for autonomy.” A profile where ordinary, everyday demands trigger real anxiety-driven refusal, and where the usual reward-and-consequence playbook tends to make things worse. Full guide here.

GLP / gestalt language processing

Learning language in whole chunks — scripts, movie lines, phrases lifted intact — and breaking them down into flexible words later. It isn’t a delay; it’s a different route to the same place. Full guide here.

CAS / apraxia

Childhood Apraxia of Speech — a motor-planning problem. Your child knows the word; the brain can’t reliably sequence the movements to produce it. The therapist’s specific training matters more here than almost anywhere. Full guide here.

Dysphagia

Difficulty swallowing — evaluated and treated by an SLP or feeding therapist. It can look like picky eating from across the table, which is exactly why it gets missed.

People & agencies

DDA (you’ll also see DIDD)

Tennessee’s Department of Disability and Aging. In July 2024 the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities merged into it. Older paperwork and websites still say DIDD; the programs are the same.

TN DOE

The Tennessee Department of Education — it sets the special-education rules and timelines your district has to meet, and publishes the parent-rights documents you can cite in a meeting. The ones worth printing are listed here.

Pathfinder

Tennessee Disability Pathfinder — the free, multilingual helpline and database that maps services in your county for any disability. 1-800-640-4636, and the best first call in the state. It’s week one of our first-30-days plan.

STEP TN

Support and Training for Exceptional Parents — Tennessee’s federally designated parent training center for special education. Free one-on-one IEP help and know-your-rights training, birth to 22. 1-800-280-7837.

TRIAD

Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders, at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center — the region’s hub for diagnostic evaluations and free family training. 615-322-8240.

Advocate vs. attorney

An advocate helps you prepare, comes to meetings, and knows how the process actually runs; many are free (STEP TN) or hourly. An attorney can file due process and represent you legally. Most families need an advocate long before they need an attorney. Local attorneys are in the directory.