Glossary

ADD/ADHD

ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. While the term ADD is commonly used interchangeably, it is an outdated term. The correct clinical term established by the American Psychiatric Association is ADHD. There are three types of ADHD: inattentive, hyperactive, and combined, which is characterized by both inattentiveness and hyperactivity.

Algebraic Thinking

As noted by that National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), "Algebraic thinking includes recognizing and analyzing patterns, studying and representing relationships, making generalizations, and analyzing how things change." While a course in Algebra might start in 6th or 7th grade, algebraic thinking is a process that starts in early childhood.

Decoding

Decoding is the ability to recall sound/symbol relationships and recognize letter patterns in order to pronounce written words.

Deductive Reasoning

Deductive reasoning involves making a definite conclusion based upon a general truth or rule. This type of reasoning is engaged in early childhood: If the blocks aren't put away, then class is not excused. It is expanded upon through elementary and middle school when writing about factual topics: Since polar bears have adapted to live among sea ice, they are threfore in danger of losing their habitat. Deductive reasoning is vital to higher-level mathematics and science: My hypothesis is wrong because this experiment proved that my specimen can survive without hydrogen.

Dyscalculia

Dyscalculia is an impairment in one's ability to acquire arithmetic skills, and may result from a lack of an innate number sense which is present in most people from birth.

Dysgraphia

Dysgraphia is an impairment in one's ability to express ideas in written form. While writing seems like a singular task, it requires working memory, attention shifting, fine motor skills and spatial awareness. If students struggle with any or all of these 'executive functions', it can affect their ability to write clearly.

Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability that can affect one's ability to read, speak and write fluently. People with dyslexia commonly have difficulty identifying sounds within a word and the letters that represent these sounds. It is estimated that 5% to 15% of Americans have some form of dyslexia.

Encoding

Encoding is the ability to hear a sound and write the related symbol that represents that sound.

Executive Functioning

Executive functioning is a general term that comprises many neurologically-based skills involving mental control and self-regulation. Executive functioning skills (for example) allow us to keep track of time, make plans, estimate needed resources, work in groups and meet deadlines. Executive functioning skills are impacted by changes in the brain and life experiences as we age. Challenges with executive functioning can affect both children and adults.

Expressive Language

Expressive language is the use of words, sentences, gestures and writing to communicate meaning to others. These language skills include being able to label objects in the environment, describe actions and events, put words together in sentences, use grammar correctly. Children who struggle with an expressive language disorder will often have difficulty with vocabulary, forming complex sentences, and remembering words. Having an expressive language disorder does not necessarily mean that someone will also have problems with receptive language.

Fine Motor Skills

Fine motor skills refer to one's ability to control small movements, most-commonly with hands and fingers, but also with toes, feet, and muscles of the face and mouth. Difficulty with fine motor skills can impact a child's ability to manipulate buttons and zippers, to use pencils, markers and scissors, and to develop clear handwriting.

Gross Motor Skills

Gross motors skills refer to one's ability to use large muscles in the torso, arms and legs to complete activities. Difficulties with gross motor skills can impact a child's balance, coordination, physical strength and reaction time.

Inductive Reasoning

Inductive reasoning involves making a general conclusion based on certain observations. Inductive reasoning relies upon high probability, which doesn't make it necessarily factual. While a conclusion may not be certain, it can be considered reasonably true based on specific information. For example: A snow storm hits my home town every December, so next December it will happen again.

Learning Differences

The term Learning Differences is often substituted for the term Learning Disabilities. For tutoring purposes, we use these two terms interchangeably. We understand that there are parents, teachers, psychologists and other professionals who disagree with this. The Learning Disabilities Association of the American (LDAA) understandably endorses the term disabilities, "...to ensure that individuals are appropriately identified as required by [established] laws in order to receive supports and services..." In our colloquial use with parents and teachers, we are more likely to use the term Learning Differences, because (a) there is no clinical distinction between the two terms, (b) we remain mindful that everyone learns and perceives the world differently, and (c) we hope not to get too caught up by semantic distinctions.

Multisensory Learning

Multisensory learning is an approach that involves the use of more than one sense at a time. While most learning involves sight and sound for reading, watching and listening, multisensory learning may incorporate smell, taste, touch and/or movement. Such instruction can incorporate balance, movement or music to engage multiple senses simultaneously. Mutlisensory instruction, especially that which is based on the Orton-Gillingham approach, is helpful for children who struggle significantly with reading and math.

Number Sense

Closely related to the concept of numeracy, number sense is an intuitive understanding of numbers, their magnitude, relationships, and how they are affected by operations. Number sense involves the concepts of comparison, measurement, magnitude, ranking, and estimating/rounding.

Numeracy

Numeracy means the automatic recognition of quantities and quantity relationships without counting. Examples of this are recognizing the number "6" on a die based on the pattern or seeing a picture split into four parts but recognizing the whole.

One-to-One correspondence

One to one correspondence is the ability to match an object to the corresponding number and recognise that numbers are symbols to represent a quantity. One to one correspondence is the ability to connect the meaning of a symbol (5) and the language ("five") to the abstract concept of quantity.

Part/Whole Relationships

sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco

Pattern Recognition

A child's ability to recognize patterns is a fundamental building block of mathematics. Effective pattern recognition is critical to sorting, classifying, and recognizing relationships between objects, and how rules apply to sets. Children who have difficulties with pattern recognition frequenly had difficulty making decisions, relating new knowledge to previous knowledge, and coping with situations that are out of their routine.

Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, recognize and manipulate a phoneme, which is the smallest unit of sound. For example, the word cat is made up of three phonemes: /c/ /a/ and /t/. Children with strong phonemic awareness will be able to recognize rhyming and alliteration. Phonemic awareness is one part of (and is often confused with phonological awareness.

Phonics

Phonics refers to the relationship between sounds and the written symbols that represent them. The ability to recognize and practice this relationship is crucial to developing an ability to sound out, or "decode" words.

Phonological Awareness

Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize that words are made up of variety of sound units (called phonemes). Children with strong phonological awareness will be able to blend phonemes into syllables recognize prefixes and suffixes, and blend various sounds together to form larger words.

Pragmatic Language

Pragmatic language is the use of appropriate verbal and non-verbal communication in social situations. It involves differences among various circumstances, and one's awareness of tone, volume, eye contact and body language.

Proprioception

Proprioception, put simply, is one's awareness of where one's body is in space. It involves an awareness of feedback on muscles and joints. Children who have difficulties with proprioceptive awareness may seem clumsy, have difficulty finding a comfortable position, or have difficulty with balance. Occupational Therapists typically work with children and adults who experience challenges with proprioceptive awareness.

Reading Comprehension

Most simply, Reading Comprehension refers to understanding written text. However, it also involves many congitive processes, including phonological awareness and an ability to construct meaning from the text. Good comprehension also requires an understanding of the vocabulary used, and the reader's ability to draw upon prior knowledge to make sense of the text.

Reading Fluency

Reading Fluency is the ability to read accurately at a reasonable pace with the correct intonation. Reading Fluency is a good indicator of a student's decoding and comprehension abilities - other building blocks of reading skill.

Receptive Language

Receptive language is the ability to understand aural and written and language, and also involves gaining information and meaning from routine, visual language, and concepts such as size, shape, grammar and time (e.g. "Small Cars Only" or "No parking between 2:00 - 4:00pm"). In children, receptive language skills relate to attention, recognizing gestures, interpersonal social skills and play. Having a receptive language disorder does not necessarily mean that someone will also have problems with expressive language.

Sensory Processing Disorder

While not formally recognized as a psychiatric disorder, SPD involves atypical behaviors that are related to the senses: hypersensitivity to light or noise, having an unusually high or low pain tolerance, distress over clothes feeling too tight, or attempting to eat inedible things. Sensory Processing Disorder is commonly - though not exclusively - observed in children with autism.

Sequencing

Sequencing is understanding how a series of events takes place in a specific and logical order. Learning sequencing is important for young children, as it allows them to conceputalize time and recognize cause-and-effect relationships.

Sight Words

Sight Words are common words that children are encouraged to memorize rather than decode and "sound out". This practice is encouraged because these words are 'high-frequency', and because many of them do not follow the rules of phonics that are often being taught at the same time. For example: of, from, some, one, was, what, were, and said.

Slow Processing Speed

Processing Speed, which does not correlate with intelligence, is the pace at which someone can take in information, make sense of it, and respond. Children with Slow Processing Speed may have difficulty following multi-step directions, and may need more explanation to understand directions.

Subitizing

Subitizing is the ability to recognize the number of objects in a group intuitively without counting them. A common example of this is recognizing number patterns in the pips on a die.

back to the top