Glossaries of Special Education Terminology

This KnowledgeBase archive includes content and external links that were accurate and relevant as of September 30, 2019.

This resource includes several glossaries of special education terminology which provide the respective English terminology in Hmong, Spanish and Somali. The glossaries may be useful in formulating translated materials in those languages. To view each glossary, click on the respective links below.

OSEP English to Spanish Translation Glossary
The OSEP Spanish Glossary was developed by the Region 1 (Northeast) Parent Technical Assistance Center to ensure that educational terms related to the implementation of IDEA used in documents to promote parents’ authentic participation are translated in a uniform and comprehensible way, across states, geographical regions and communities of Spanish speakers.

English-Hmong Dictionary of Special Education
This link to the Minnesota Department of Education website provides an English-Hmong dictionary of special education. This resource downloads as a PDF doucment.

Key Terms to Know in Special Education
This link to the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities describes the key terms to know in special education. A link to the Spanish version of the website is also available.

Somali Glossary of Special Education Terminology
The purpose of this glossary is to assist Somali interpreters, translators and teachers so that they can provide more accurate interpretation of special education documents. This resource downloads as a PDF document.

The contents of this website were developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and are intended for general reference purposes only. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education or the Center, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. Some resources on this site require Adobe Acrobat Reader. This website archive includes content and external links that were accurate and relevant as of September 30, 2019.