Glossary
Searchable terminology from accessibility, web standards, and related fields.
104 results found in Education.
- Self-Scaffolding
- Self-scaffolding is a process in which learners independently create their own support structures to achieve objectives they would not have reached without that support. Unlike traditional scaffolding…
- Social Cognitive Theory (SCT, Social learning theory)
- A psychological framework developed by Albert Bandura that explains how people learn through observing others, building self-efficacy, and interacting with their social environment. In the context of …
- Social Emotional Learning (SEL, Social-Emotional Learning)
- A pedagogical approach focused on developing students' self-management, self-awareness, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making abilities to support academic success and…
- Social Play
- Social play is intrinsically motivated, voluntary activity between two or more children that has no purpose beyond itself, yet is essential to emotional, cognitive, and social development. Development…
- Social Skills Intervention (Social Skills Training, SST, Social Skills Therapy)
- Structured approaches to teaching social interaction skills to individuals who experience difficulties in social situations, commonly used with people with Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, or social an…
- Socratic Questioning
- A disciplined, dialogue-based teaching method that uses probing questions to help learners examine assumptions, consider alternatives, and reason through problems rather than receive direct answers. N…
- Special Education (Special Needs Education, SPED)
- Educational programs, services, and instruction specifically designed to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities. Special education encompasses a range of settings from fully inclusive cla…
- Special Interest Areas (SIAs, Circumscribed Interests, Intense Interests)
- Special interest areas (SIAs) refer to the intense, focused interests that are characteristic of many autistic individuals. While traditionally viewed through a deficit lens as "restricted" or "repeti…
- Special Interests (Restricted Interests, Intense Interests)
- Special interests are focused, intense, and often enduring areas of passion commonly observed in autistic children and adults - such as trains, dinosaurs, specific cartoon characters, or numerical sys…
- Symbiotic Learning
- Symbiotic Learning is a conceptual framing introduced by Jiang et al. (CHI 2026) describing a mode of mixed-ability family learning in which parents and children mutually enable each other's participa…
- Synthetic Phonics (Phonics, Systematic Phonics)
- A method of teaching reading that emphasises learning the sounds (phonemes) associated with letters and letter combinations, then blending those sounds together to form words. Unlike analytic phonics,…
- TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication-Handicapped Children)
- A comprehensive, evidence-based programme for supporting people with autism spectrum disorder across the lifespan, developed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Rather than a single me…
- Tactile Diagram (Raised Diagram, Embossed Diagram)
- A diagram rendered in a tactile format that can be explored through touch, typically using raised lines, textures, and Braille labels on special paper or thermoform plastic. Tactile diagrams are essen…
- Tactile Learning Material (Tactile Teaching Aid, Hands-On Learning Material)
- Physical educational materials designed to be explored through touch, enabling students with vision impairments to understand concepts that are typically presented visually. Tactile learning materials…
- Tactile Modelling (Tactile Demonstration, Touch-Based Instruction)
- A teaching technique used in movement and dance education for blind and low-vision learners, where the student physically explores the teacher's body position by touch to understand the shape, form, a…
- Tactile learning (Haptic learning, Touch-based learning)
- An educational approach that uses the sense of touch as a primary channel for acquiring knowledge, developing skills, and understanding concepts. For BLV students, tactile learning is essential — brai…
- Teacher with Vision Impairment (TVI, Visually Impaired Teacher, Blind Teacher)
- An educator who is blind or has low vision and teaches in educational settings, often in schools for the blind where they share the lived experience of their students. TVIs are particularly prominent …
- Tech support for older adults (Senior tech support, Elder tech assistance)
- The provision of guidance, troubleshooting, and learning resources to help older adults use digital technologies effectively. Research identifies two key dimensions: self-reliant support (online tutor…
- Technology Readiness (Tech Readiness, Digital Readiness)
- The degree to which an individual, organization, or system is prepared to effectively adopt and use new technologies, encompassing infrastructure availability, digital literacy, institutional support,…
- Transition Period (School-to-Adult Transition, Transition Services)
- In disability services, the transition period refers to the years during which a young person with a disability moves from school-based supports into adult life. In the United States, school systems a…