Vocabulary — Communication & Writing
Words are tools. This page holds every key word for this part of the school, drawn from the lessons themselves: how to spell each word, what it means in plain language, and one sentence to remember it by.
See every vocabulary page in this school
"I Speak" card
Spells: I-S-p-e-a-k-c-a-r-d
What it means: a language-identification card or poster letting a person point to their language so staff can connect the right interpreter.
Where you meet it: in the lesson “Advocacy” in this school.
ADA
Spells: A-D-A
What it means: the Americans with Disabilities Act: the civil-rights law protecting people with disabilities from discrimination, including in state and local government services.
A sentence to remember it by: ADA.gov — https://www.ada.gov — the Justice Department's ADA home: rights, guidance, and the ADA Information Line.
Alt text
Spells: A-l-t-t-e-x-t
What it means: a written description conveying an image's content and function for screen readers and failed loads.
A sentence to remember it by: Myth: Captions and alt text are optional polish.
Attribution
Spells: A-t-t-r-i-b-u-t-i-o-n
What it means: naming the source of a claim inside the text, as in "according to the organization's annual review."
Where you meet it: in the lesson “How to Write a Press Release (Year 1 Foundations)” in this school.
Audience segmentation
Spells: Audience segmentation
What it means: dividing audiences into groups whose needs or trusted channels differ enough to change the message.
A sentence to remember it by: Channel choice follows the audience, not fashion.
Auxiliary aids and services
Spells: Auxiliary aids and services
What it means: tools that make communication accessible: interpreters, large print, accessible electronic documents, telecommunications access, and similar supports.
A sentence to remember it by: Auxiliary aids and services — tools that make communication accessible: interpreters, large print, accessible electronic documents, telecommunications access, and similar supports.
Boilerplate
Spells: B-o-i-l-e-r-p-l-a-t-e
What it means: the standard short paragraph describing the organization, reused identically at the foot of every release.
A sentence to remember it by: Boilerplate — the standard short paragraph describing the organization, reused identically at the foot of every release.
Call to action (CTA)
Spells: Call to action (CTA)
What it means: the single, specific next step a post asks for, sized to the relationship and honest about its cost.
A sentence to remember it by: If you are in danger right now, call 911.
Channel
Spells: C-h-a-n-n-e-l
What it means: a route by which a message reaches an audience: radio, a noticeboard, a platform, a meeting.
A sentence to remember it by: Choose few channels and serve them well.
Chronically unfinished work
Spells: Chronically unfinished work
What it means: an ongoing pattern of assignments not completed by a student who was previously able to complete them, read as a signal rather than a character judgment.
Where you meet it: in the lesson “Advocacy” in this school.
Civil rights complaint
Spells: Civil rights complaint
What it means: a complaint to a government civil rights office, such as the HHS Office for Civil Rights, alleging discrimination based on a protected characteristic such as race, color, national origin, disability, age, or sex.
A sentence to remember it by: Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR), for discrimination.
Clickbait
Spells: C-l-i-c-k-b-a-i-t
What it means: a hook that overpromises or deceives to win a click; the failure mode honest copywriting is defined against.
A sentence to remember it by: That order — substance first, hook second — is the difference between copywriting and clickbait.
Contact block
Spells: C-o-n-t-a-c-t-b-l-o-c-k
What it means: the named media contact with email and an answered phone number at the release's foot.
A sentence to remember it by: Contact block — the named media contact with email and an answered phone number at the release's foot.
Dateline
Spells: D-a-t-e-l-i-n-e
What it means: the city and date line that opens a traditional release's lead.
A sentence to remember it by: Dateline — the city and date line that opens a traditional release's lead.
Documentation
Spells: D-o-c-u-m-e-n-t-a-t-i-o-n
What it means: writing down dates, times, names, exact words, and events, and keeping copies, so what happened can be reviewed later.
A sentence to remember it by: Medical records — the official documentation of your care: notes, test results, and reports.
Doubled
Spells: D-o-u-b-l-e-d
What it means: up housing — a family living with relatives or another household because of economic hardship, a common and non-criminal arrangement.
A sentence to remember it by: Doubled-up housing — a family living with relatives or another household because of economic hardship, a common and non-criminal arrangement.
Effective communication
Spells: Effective communication
What it means: the ADA principle that public entities must communicate with people with disabilities as effectively as with others, using auxiliary aids and services as needed.
Where you meet it: in the lesson “Advocacy” in this school.
Embargo
Spells: E-m-b-a-r-g-o
What it means: a stated time before which distributed information must not be published.
A sentence to remember it by: Embargo — a stated time before which distributed information must not be published.
Ethical persuasion
Spells: Ethical persuasion
What it means: influence built on true claims, real urgency, stated costs, and a respected "no."
A sentence to remember it by: A final ethical pass belongs to the same routine: is anything here persuasion the reader would resent if they saw the machinery?
Evaluation
Spells: E-v-a-l-u-a-t-i-o-n
What it means: pre-planned counting and review comparing results with objectives.
A sentence to remember it by: Evaluation — pre-planned counting and review comparing results with objectives.
Family liaison
Spells: F-a-m-i-l-y-l-i-a-i-s-o-n
What it means: a school or community staff member whose role is connecting families with resources, meetings, and support.
A sentence to remember it by: A family can be poor and excellent at all five.
Forensic interview
Spells: Forensic interview
What it means: a specialist, structured interview of a child about possible harm, conducted by trained professionals under department procedures; not a doorstep conversation.
A sentence to remember it by: Forensic interview — a specialist, structured interview of a child about possible harm, conducted by trained professionals under department procedures; not a doorstep conversation.
Hook
Spells: H-o-o-k
What it means: the first line of a post, whose job is to give the reader a true reason to continue; it must be paid off by the post itself.
A sentence to remember it by: Two hook rules protect your credibility while the patterns earn attention.
Informed consent
Spells: Informed consent
What it means: your agreement to a treatment or procedure after it has been explained in a way you understand — what it is, its risks and benefits, and your alternatives, including refusing.
A sentence to remember it by: Informed consent — the right to understand and to refuse.
Interpreter services
Spells: Interpreter services
What it means: professional language help, provided free to the patient, so you can understand and be understood during care.
A sentence to remember it by: A Deaf patient offered no interpreter and handed forms he cannot discuss.
Inverted pyramid
Spells: Inverted pyramid
What it means: news organization that places the most important facts first and detail in descending order, so the piece survives cutting from the bottom.
A sentence to remember it by: Poynter Institute (poynter.org) — news writing and inverted-pyramid teaching from the newsroom side.
Language access
Spells: L-a-n-g-u-a-g-e-a-c-c-e-s-s
What it means: the practical ability of a person with limited English proficiency to meaningfully use a public service, through interpreters, translated materials, and identification tools.
A sentence to remember it by: Plain language is not talking down.
Lead
Spells: L-e-a-d
What it means: the opening paragraph carrying who, what, when, where, and why of the news.
A sentence to remember it by: After the lead, the body continues down the pyramid.
Limited English proficiency (LEP)
Spells: Limited English proficiency (LEP)
What it means: a person's limited ability to read, write, speak, or understand English, which language-access services exist to bridge.
A sentence to remember it by: Limited English proficiency (LEP) — a person's limited ability to read, write, speak, or understand English, which language-access services exist to bridge.
Load
Spells: L-o-a-d
What it means: bearing fact — a name, date, number, or link a post depends on, re-checked at the editing pass.
A sentence to remember it by: Alt text — a written description conveying an image's content and function for screen readers and failed loads.
Mandated reporting
Spells: Mandated reporting
What it means: the legal duty, carried by many professionals, to report suspected child abuse or neglect through designated channels; officers follow the law and department procedures that apply to them.
Where you meet it: in the lesson “Advocacy” in this school.
Medical discrimination
Spells: Medical discrimination
What it means: being treated worse, believed less, or given less care in a medical setting because of race, disability, weight, language, religion, insurance, a mental-health history, or another personal characteristic, rather than because of your medical needs.
A sentence to remember it by: If you have a medical emergency, call 911.
Medical records
Spells: M-e-d-i-c-a-l-r-e-c-o-r-d-s
What it means: the official documentation of your care: notes, test results, and reports. You have the right to request copies of your own records.
A sentence to remember it by: If you have a medical emergency, call 911.
Message house
Spells: M-e-s-s-a-g-e-h-o-u-s-e
What it means: one core message as roof, proof points as pillars, purpose and values as foundation.
A sentence to remember it by: Messages aimed at everyone land on no one.
Nonverbal signal
Spells: Nonverbal signal
What it means: information a child communicates without words — stillness, watchfulness, startle, withdrawal, or caretaking behavior beyond their years.
A sentence to remember it by: Nonverbal signal — information a child communicates without words — stillness, watchfulness, startle, withdrawal, or caretaking behavior beyond their years.
Objective
Spells: O-b-j-e-c-t-i-v-e
What it means: a checkable statement of change: audience, change, amount, time.
A sentence to remember it by: Myth: "Raise awareness" is a complete objective.
Outputs and outcomes
Spells: Outputs and outcomes
What it means: outputs are what you produced; outcomes are what changed. Strategy is judged on outcomes.
A sentence to remember it by: Outputs are what you produced — posts published, flyers distributed.
Owner
Spells: O-w-n-e-r
What it means: the named person responsible for a calendar item or channel and its deadline.
A sentence to remember it by: Owner — the named person responsible for a calendar item or channel and its deadline.
Patient advocate / patient relations
Spells: Patient advocate / patient relations
What it means: hospital or clinic staff whose job is to hear patient concerns, help resolve problems with care, and explain the facility's complaint process.
A sentence to remember it by: Save screenshots of patient-portal messages with dates visible.
Pinned post
Spells: P-i-n-n-e-d-p-o-s-t
What it means: the front-door post fixed at the top of a profile, answering who you are, what you do, and what a newcomer should do first.
A sentence to remember it by: A pinned post pointing to last season's program is a shop sign advertising a shop that moved.
Plain Writing Act of 2010
Spells: Plain Writing Act of 2010
What it means: the federal law requiring agencies to write public documents in plain language their audience can understand.
A sentence to remember it by: Plain language is not talking down.
Press release
Spells: P-r-e-s-s-r-e-l-e-a-s-e
What it means: a written announcement in news format, offered to media as material for their own story.
A sentence to remember it by: Sources Press Releases — Purdue OWL, Purdue University (owl.purdue.edu) — news value, the five W's and H, and basic requirements for effective releases.
Protection and Advocacy agency
Spells: Protection and Advocacy agency
What it means: a federally designated organization in each state that protects the rights of people with disabilities; in Massachusetts, this is the Disability Law Center.
A sentence to remember it by: Disability Law Center of Massachusetts (Disability Rights Massachusetts — the state's Protection and Advocacy agency, for disability-related issues): dlc-ma.org ; 617-723-8455 or 800-872-9992 .
Qualified interpreter
Spells: Qualified interpreter
What it means: an interpreter with the language skill, vocabulary, and impartiality to interpret accurately in substantive matters — not a family member or bystander.
A sentence to remember it by: Use qualified interpreters for substantive matters.
School baseline
Spells: S-c-h-o-o-l-b-a-s-e-l-i-n-e
What it means: a teacher's knowledge of a child's ordinary behavior, work, and energy, against which a change becomes visible.
A sentence to remember it by: Sometimes the cause is inside the school itself.
Second opinion
Spells: S-e-c-o-n-d-o-p-i-n-i-o-n
What it means: an evaluation by another clinician of a diagnosis or treatment plan, which you have the right to ask about before deciding.
A sentence to remember it by: A second set of ears helps you remember, and a witness changes how a room behaves.
Situation analysis
Spells: Situation analysis
What it means: the honest opening account of the problem, past efforts, audience beliefs, and real resources.
A sentence to remember it by: Situation analysis — the honest opening account of the problem, past efforts, audience beliefs, and real resources.
Strategy
Spells: S-t-r-a-t-e-g-y
What it means: the written reasoning that decides what change to make, in whom, with what messages and channels, and how success will be known.
A sentence to remember it by: Strategy without tactics is a wish.
Subhead (deck)
Spells: S-u-b-h-e-a-d-d-e-c-k
What it means: the one-sentence supporting line beneath the headline carrying the most important supporting fact.
A sentence to remember it by: Subhead (deck) — the one-sentence supporting line beneath the headline carrying the most important supporting fact.
Support check
Spells: S-u-p-p-o-r-t-c-h-e-c-k
What it means: a planned, non-emergency contact with a family, triggered by a signal of struggle, whose purpose is to learn what changed and connect the family with help.
A sentence to remember it by: Support and safety are not rivals.
Swipe file
Spells: S-w-i-p-e-f-i-l-e
What it means: your kept collection of your own best-performing lines, used as evidence of what your audience responds to.
A sentence to remember it by: Swipe file — your kept collection of your own best-performing lines, used as evidence of what your audience responds to.
Tactic
Spells: T-a-c-t-i-c
What it means: a single act of communication, such as a post, flyer, release, or speech, chosen because it serves the strategy.
A sentence to remember it by: Strategy without tactics is a wish.
Thread
Spells: T-h-r-e-a-d
What it means: an essay delivered as a sequence of posts, each worth reading alone, with the payoff promised first and delivered last.
A sentence to remember it by: Writing for Different Formats — Captions, Threads, Scripts, and the Pinned Post The same idea must be re-built, not re-pasted, per format.
Trigger (proposal)
Spells: Trigger (proposal)
What it means: in this program's proposal, a defined pattern — D or F grades across subjects, or chronically unfinished work persisting after a school's own outreach — that prompts a support check.
A sentence to remember it by: A trigger is a pattern over time, never one assignment or one teacher's frustration.
Voice
Spells: V-o-i-c-e
What it means: the consistent personality in the writing — word choice, rhythm, stance — that makes copy recognisable without a logo.
A sentence to remember it by: Readers cannot articulate voice, but they feel its absence instantly.