Accommodations Toolbox: Vocabulary
Key Vocabulary
Accessible Educational Materials (AEM): Accessible educational materials, or AEM, are print and technology-based educational materials, including printed and electronic textbooks and related core materials that are designed or converted in a way that makes them usable across the widest range of individual variability regardless of format (print, digital, graphic, audio, video). CITES 2025
Accessible Technologies: Accessible electronic and information technology is technology that can be used by people with a wide range of abilities and disabilities. It incorporates the principles of universal design. Each user can interact with the technology in ways that work best for them. Accessible technology is either directly accessible, in other words, it is usable without assistive technology, or it is compatible with standard assistive technology. CITES 2025
Accommodations: Accommodations are adaptations, or changes in educational environments or practices that help students overcome the barriers presented by their disability. Two areas in which accommodations can be used are instruction and testing. Instructional accommodations are changes to the delivery of classroom instruction or the accompanying materials. Instructional accommodations change how students learn, but do not change what they learn. Testing accommodations are changes to the format of a test or its administration procedures. Testing accommodations change how students are tested, but do not change what a test measures. CITES 2025
Assistive Technologies (AT): Assistive technology is any item, piece of equipment, software program, or product system that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of persons with disabilities. Assistive technology helps people who have difficulty speaking, typing, writing, remembering, pointing, seeing, hearing, learning, walking, and many other things. Different disabilities require different assistive technologies. Examples include low-tech: communication boards made of cardboard or fuzzy felt, special-purpose computers, hardware: prosthetics, mounting systems, and positioning devices, special switches, keyboards, pointing devices, screen readers, communication programs, electronic devices, wheelchairs, educational software, power lifts, pencil holders, eye-gaze, and head trackers. CITES 2025
Engagement: Engagement is the process of communicating with, learning from, and partnering with stakeholders who acknowledge the unique needs and strengths of the stakeholders involved is meaningful, inclusive, clear, effective, and ongoing to best support educational equity and excellence. CITES 2025
Universal Design for Learning (UDL): UDL is a learning and teaching framework based on neuroanatomy and functional neuroimaging research techniques. UDL resists a one-size-fits-all approach to education and posits instead that teachers, educators, and instructional materials should effectively respond to individual differences inherent in a learning environment. Across learning goals, methods, materials, and assessments, Universal Design for Learning encourages offering:
- Multiple means of representation to give learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge,
- Multiple means of expression to provide learners with alternatives for demonstrating what they know,
- Multiple means of engagement to tap into learners' interests, challenge them appropriately, and motivate them to learn.
Option 1: Vocabulary Sort
After reading through the description for each term, complete the Quizlet matching game. You are selecting the Best Match for each classroom example; some may fit multiple terms, but only one is selected. Direct link to the Quizlet Matching Game. (Note: if working on a small screen, the entire embedded Quizlet may not show up, so you will want to use the direct link.)
Option 2: Spot It in Practice
Let's connect the key terms to real classroom tools and decisions you already make.
Step 1. Select ONE term from the list of Key Vocabulary after you have read through each term.
Step 2. Complete one of the prompts below by filling in the term you chose. If this is your first time working with the term, classroom examples may be more challenging to come up with. We will have a chance to modify your prompt as your learning within this Toolbox advances.
- An example of [term] in my classroom or tools could be…
- One small change I could make related to [term] is…
Step 3. Share out.
- If working individually, do the following.
- With a colleague, have a hallway or virtual discussion about your prompt.
- If working with a team, do one of the following.
- Turn and discuss with a partner.
- Add a sticky note to the whiteboard/wall/Padlet and have a team discussion about each note.
