For many Asian American families, it is very difficult to understand the special education terminology, not mention the overwhelming legal terms and acronyms. Here are the basic terms of special education and law selected from the glossary of Free Appropriate Public Education (Turnbull, Stove, & Huerta, 2007). All the terms are translated into Chinese simplified, traditional Chinese, and Korean. Additionally, each term is paraphrased in plain English for Asian American families in order to catch the accurate meaning of each term.
Minnesota Department of Education also created English-Hmong Special Education Glossary for families from Hmong background. All these formats were posted at Minnesota Department of Education website.
The Parent's Notice of Procedural Safeguards by Massachusetts State is designed to assist parents in understanding the special education process and their rights when their child is referred for or is receiving special education services. It has been translated into seven Asian languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, and Vietnamese. These documents were posted at Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education website.
Concerning transition planning, Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education has three specific documents: Special Education Eligibility Determination, Evaluation Consent Form, and Meeting Invitation. All these documents are translated into eight Asian languages. Click on the language you want, then you will see these three documents in PDF format.