Scottish
Disability
Team
Please click on one of the following letters, or scroll down this page to find the relevant term.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
what you are capable of as measured by an I.Q. test.
the physical structure of the whole or part of the human body, in this instance, the brain.
the process of determining information about an individual using tests, observations, interviews, etc.
what you actually achieve or accomplish in the part of a diagnostic assessment devoted to literacy skills.
a difficulty in maintaining concentration for more than a short period of time often overlapping with dyslexia.
relating to hearing. For example, auditory short-term memory is concerned with remembering what you hear and reproducing it.
a way of generating ideas in which nothing is excluded. A technique which is often used in 'teams' to assist creative thinking.
a term used to refer to 'higher' mental processes like thinking, perceiving and remembering.
ways of doing things which offset or counterbalance the undesired effects of dyslexia.
an assessment which identifies a person's underlying strengths and needs in a particular area. It may be able to explain why an individual is experiencing a specific learning difficulty and can help to evaluate the severity of the problem.
an allowance available to 'home' students who are eligible for funding from their Local Education Authority (LEA) in England and Wales, Library Boards in Northern Ireland or the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS). This allowance is intended to help disabled students with any additional costs they have in their studies which are directly related to their disability. Further information is available from your LEA, Library Board, SAAS or Disability Co-ordinator.
someone who is able to generate many different ideas or solutions to a single idea or problem. Brainstorming is a good example of a situation where divergent thinking would be useful. The thought processes involved might be unorthodox or apparently illogical and are, therefore, very close to what we understand by lateral thinking.
a term used to describe difficulty in writing. In other words, it just means "writing difficulty". It is generally used to refer to extremely poor handwriting.
dyslexia is a neurological difference, the primary effects of which are on auditory and visual short-term memory and visual/motor processing speed.
a difficulty in co-ordinating speech, often overlapping with dyslexia and resulting in difficulties in word order and pronunciation.
a difficulty controlling movement often overlapping with dyslexia and resulting in clumsiness and speech difficulties.
a professionally qualified person who is trained and experienced in psychometric testing (measuring aspects of abilities and performance) and has access to the tests which are necessary for carrying out a diagnostic assessment.
a term which refers to the ability to be self-aware, motivated, empathic and effective in relationships of all kinds and manage feelings appropriately. These abilities are increasingly recognised as crucial to success. They are not measured in I.Q. tests.
the consequences of the primary characteristics of dyslexia on the learning process.
something which is passed genetically from one generation of a family to another, for example, eye colour.
refers to a wide sample of the basic behavioural skills a person has acquired which are important to the acquisition of further skilled behaviours.
a systematic procedure which gives an arithmetic average of a person's ability in the specific areas which are being tested.
the experience of visual discomfort caused by a strong visual contrast, such as black text on white paper. It can make the text blur or appear unstable. This can make reading for any length of time difficult because it prevents comfortable scanning. Coloured lenses and overlays can be used to reduce the contrast and coloured or off-white paper can also help.
the whole process of taking in information in such a way that it can be represented mentally, stored for a period of time and then retrieved on a subsequent occasion.
a way of representing information, ideas and the connections between them in a visual/spatial format. This format is thought to replicate the cognitive functioning of the brain. With specialist software, computers are an excellent tool for mind mapping.
relating to the structure and functioning of the nervous system and brain.
ability to use numbers.
the process of interpreting and making understandable information which is received through the sensory organs.
the characteristics or effects of dyslexia which arise as a direct result of the deficit in short-term working memory.
the results of an assessment which enables strengths and weaknesses to be easily identified and made apparent by contrasts within the individual's pattern of responses.
complications, often psychological, which result from the long-term responses of the environment to the dyslexic person's difficulties.
arranging things in order according to a given structure or a set of formal criteria.
part of the memory storage system which is capable of storing material for a brief period of time, in order that it can be utilised or transferred into long-term memory. It is also concerned with the interpretation and integration of new information and previously stored information.
a problem with particular aspects of learning. Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty.
something which visually represents or stands for something else.
relating to vision. For example, visual short-term memory is concerned with what you perceive through your vision and how you are able to recognise it later.
the cognitive process by which we assimilate, recognise and record symbolic information.
the ability to perceive, organise and analyse forms and patterns in 2 and 3D.
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