Here is a definition of the terminology used on this site.

• Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA): Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is an approach to therapy and education that applies principles of behaviourism — particularly reinforcement and repetition — to shape observable behaviour. It is commonly used in autism services and has influenced many school behaviour systems. In practice, ABA-based approaches often involve breaking skills into small steps, rewarding behaviours that are considered desirable, and reducing behaviours that are seen as disruptive or inappropriate. From a neurodiversity-affirming perspective, ABA is understood as a method designed primarily to change outward behaviour rather than to understand the underlying experience of the autistic person. Critics note that historically many ABA programs focused on encouraging autistic children to appear more “typical,” sometimes by discouraging natural forms of communication, movement, or self-regulation such as stimming. Many autistic self-advocates argue that support should prioritise communication, autonomy, sensory needs, and safety, rather than compliance or behavioural normalisation. Increasingly, educators and clinicians are re-examining behaviour-focused approaches and moving toward supports that focus on removing barriers in the environment and helping neurodivergent people thrive as themselves. Learn more
• assessment delayed: Assessment delayed is used on k12complaints.ca to organise content about children’s rights, school experiences, and the systems families navigate when educational access is disrupted. Depending on the context, this tag may relate to disability, inclusion, complaint processes, school culture, emotional harm, or broader questions of fairness and accountability in BC’s K–12 system. Posts filed under this tag may explore lived experience, practical advocacy advice, policy interpretation, or legal pathways available when schools do not meet their obligations. The purpose of the tag is to help readers find connected discussions and understand how a single issue can sit within a larger pattern of educational barriers. It is especially useful where family experience, institutional response, and structural conditions overlap in ways that are difficult to see in isolation. Learn more
• assessment denied: Assessment denied refers to situations where a request for an educational, psychological, or developmental assessment is declined by the professionals responsible for triaging referrals. This may happen when a child is judged not to meet the service’s eligibility criteria or when available information is considered insufficient to justify an assessment. Because access to publicly funded assessments is often limited, triage decisions can rely heavily on observable behaviours and reported concerns. Children who mask their difficulties, present inconsistently across environments, or do not fit common expectations of certain conditions may be less likely to receive referrals. Some research and advocacy groups have noted that this can disproportionately affect girls and other students whose challenges are less visible in structured settings. When assessments are denied, families may face significant barriers to accessing information, supports, or services, and may need to pursue additional documentation or alternative pathways to obtain an evaluation. Learn more
• attachment: Attachment refers to the deep emotional bond that forms between a child and the adults who care for them. In psychology, attachment describes the way children learn who keeps them safe, who listens when they are distressed, and who helps them regulate difficult feelings. When a child experiences consistent care, protection, and responsiveness from adults, they develop a sense of secure attachment. This means the child trusts that when they are scared, overwhelmed, or hurt, the adults around them will notice and help. That sense of safety becomes the foundation for exploration, learning, and social development. Attachment is most often discussed in relation to parents and caregivers, but children also form attachment relationships with trusted adults in other environments, including teachers and school staff. At school, attachment shows up through everyday experiences: a teacher who listens, a staff member who helps when a child is struggling, or an adult who takes concerns seriously. When children feel securely attached to the adults around them, they are more likely to take risks in learning, ask for help, and recover from mistakes. When that sense of safety is missing — when a child feels misunderstood, dismissed, or repeatedly left without support — school can become a place of stress rather than growth. In this way, attachment is not only a family concept. It is also a key part of creating school environments where children feel safe enough to learn. Learn more
• autism: Autism is a neurodevelopmental difference that affects how a person experiences communication, sensory input, social interaction, movement, and patterns of attention or interest. Autistic people are highly diverse, and no single presentation describes everyone. In schools, autistic students may need supports related to communication, sensory regulation, predictability, transitions, executive functioning, or social safety. Many barriers arise not from autism itself, but from environments that are rigid, overwhelming, or built around non-autistic norms. This tag is used for content about autistic students’ educational experiences, rights, and supports, including masking, dysregulation, accommodation, exclusion, bullying, and access to inclusive education. Learn more
• autistic girls: Autistic girls is used on k12complaints.ca for content about neurodivergence, disability, learning differences, and the ways schools respond to students whose needs do not fit narrow norms. In education, these issues are never only about diagnosis; they are also about communication, sensory environments, executive functioning, regulation, stigma, and the supports a student needs in order to access learning and belong. This tag may appear in posts about accommodation, exclusion, behavioural interpretation, masking, assessment, late identification, and the mismatch between a child’s needs and institutional expectations. Learn more
• bait and switch: Bait and switch refers to situations where a school or district promises or agrees to a support, accommodation, or plan, but later substitutes something different or significantly reduced. Families may initially be told that certain resources, staffing, or accommodations will be available to help a student succeed, only to find that the actual support delivered is less than what was discussed. In education advocacy, this can occur when commitments made in meetings, plans, or informal conversations are later reframed, delayed, or replaced with alternatives that do not meet the same need. The result can be confusion and frustration for families who believed a solution had been agreed upon. When expectations change without clear explanation, it can also make it harder to track accountability or determine what was actually promised. Clear documentation and written confirmation of agreements can help reduce the risk of misunderstandings or shifting commitments. Also see goalpost shifting. Learn more
• bandwidth taxation: Bandwidth taxation describes a form of institutional burden that consumes the time, attention, and emotional energy of families navigating complex systems. Rather than denying services outright, institutions impose layers of administrative work—forms to complete, meetings to attend, emails to follow up on, and documentation to repeatedly provide. Each demand draws from the limited “bandwidth” families have to advocate for their children. For families of disabled or marginalised students, this tax can become constant. Parents must learn specialised language, track shifting policies, and repair gaps in communication or documentation that should be handled by the system itself. While these processes are often described as collaborative, the practical responsibility for keeping them functioning frequently falls on families. Over time, this administrative burden can discourage complaints, delay supports, and shift accountability away from institutions and onto those already carrying the heaviest load. Learn more
• bandwidth theft: Bandwidth taxation refers to the cumulative cognitive, emotional, logistical, and relational load placed on families—especially those of disabled or marginalised children—by systems that require constant advocacy, documentation, and procedural navigation to access basic rights or support. Families must fill out forms, chase assessments, coordinate therapies, attend meetings, respond to emails, and repeatedly explain their child’s needs to new staff or professionals. Beyond these tasks, bandwidth taxation reflects the deeper drain on attention, executive functioning, trust, and emotional capacity. Time and energy that could be spent on care, connection, or rest are redirected into managing bureaucracy. This burden operates as a form of structural gatekeeping: systems rarely deny support outright, but instead impose layers of complexity that only those with the time, knowledge, and stamina to persist can navigate. Learn more
• BC education system: BC education system is used on k12complaints.ca to organise content about children’s rights, school experiences, and the systems families navigate when educational access is disrupted. This tag is used to gather content that specifically relates to our education system in BC, especially political or policy changes. Learn more
• BC Human Rights Clinic: The BC Human Rights Clinic is a nonprofit legal service that provides free help to people dealing with discrimination under the BC Human Rights Code. Depending on capacity and eligibility, it may offer information, summary advice, assistance with drafting complaints, and representation in some cases before the BC Human Rights Tribunal. For families considering action against a school or district, the clinic can be an important starting point because education discrimination cases often involve disability accommodation, exclusion, and questions about how to frame the facts legally. This tag is used for content about the clinic’s role, services, and limits, as well as practical guidance for families seeking legal help in BC. It may also include discussion of referrals, triage, and the realities of limited clinic capacity in complex education matters. Learn more
• BC Human Rights Code: The BC Human Rights Code is the provincial law that prohibits discrimination in areas such as employment, housing, and services customarily available to the public, including public education. It protects people on grounds such as disability, race, sex, family status, place of origin, religion, and gender identity or expression. In school matters, the Code is central because it imposes a duty to accommodate disability-related needs and provides a route for complaints when students face discriminatory exclusion, unequal treatment, or barriers to meaningful access. This tag is used for content about the legal framework behind education discrimination complaints in British Columbia, including protected characteristics, the duty to accommodate, injury to dignity, retaliation, and the role of the BC Human Rights Tribunal in enforcing these rights. Learn more
• BC Human Rights Tribunal: The BC Human Rights Tribunal is the administrative tribunal responsible for deciding discrimination complaints under the BC Human Rights Code. It receives complaints, determines whether they should proceed, and may resolve matters through mediation, settlement, written submissions, or hearings. In education cases, families may file with the tribunal when a child has been denied accommodation, excluded from school, subjected to discriminatory discipline, or otherwise denied equal access because of a protected characteristic such as disability or race. Tribunal proceedings can be time-consuming and evidence-heavy, but they may also create significant accountability for public institutions. This tag is used for content about BC-specific human rights procedure, screening and dismissal decisions, hearings, remedies, case strategy, and the practical realities of pursuing discrimination complaints against schools or districts. Learn more
• BC Ombudsperson: The BC Ombudsperson is an independent office that investigates complaints about administrative unfairness in public bodies, including school districts. Unlike a human rights complaint, an Ombudsperson complaint focuses on how decisions were made: whether the process was fair, transparent, lawful, timely, and responsive. Families may consider this route when schools or districts ignore policy, fail to respond, withhold reasons, delay unreasonably, or use inconsistent procedures. The Ombudsperson does not replace courts or tribunals, but it can provide important oversight and pressure on public institutions. This tag is used for content about when Ombudsperson complaints may be relevant in school disputes, how administrative fairness works, and how this pathway differs from discrimination claims, internal appeals, or professional discipline processes. Learn more
• BC school districts: BC school districts is used for content about school practices, student support systems, and day-to-day educational conditions that affect whether children can safely and meaningfully participate in learning. On k12complaints.ca, this often includes discussion of accommodation, exclusion, discipline, supervision, behaviour management, educational planning, and the practical consequences of school decisions for students and families. Some posts use this tag to examine a specific tool or practice; others use it to question how ordinary school routines can become barriers when they are rigid, punitive, or disconnected from a child’s actual needs. The tag helps connect individual incidents to larger patterns in school culture, staffing, policy implementation, and accountability, especially where educational access is limited by institutional convenience or narrow behavioural expectations. Learn more
• BCEdAccess: BCEdAccess Society is a registered charitable organization serving families of students with disabilities and complex learners across British Columbia. Their parent peer support group has over 5000 community members, and provides information and support for individual families, educators and organizations about the human right to equitable access to education, while advocating to government for systemic change. Learn more
• BCTF: The BC Teachers' Federation is the union representing public school teachers, serving over 51,000 members in British Columbia. They advocate for a free, inclusive and quality public education system where the learning needs of all students can be met. The BCTF conducts research into inclusive education funding, class composition, and specialist staffing shortages, and has documented a persistent gap between what districts spend on inclusive education and what the province funds. They fought to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2016 to restore class size and composition as bargainable working conditions, a landmark victory that also codified the presence of designated students in classrooms as a labour condition to be managed through collective agreement. The BCTF's advocacy for inclusion aligns most reliably with its members' interests: demands for more funding, more educational assistants, and smaller class sizes are simultaneously demands for better working conditions. When those interests diverge — when a teacher seeks a student's removal, or when a school implements a partial schedule to manage composition — the union's structural obligation runs to its member, and the child's right to education is seondary. Learn more
• behaviour: Behaviour is used for content about school practices, student support systems, and day-to-day educational conditions that affect whether children can safely and meaningfully participate in learning. On k12complaints.ca, this often includes discussion of accommodation, exclusion, discipline, supervision, behaviour management, educational planning, and the practical consequences of school decisions for students and families. Some posts use this tag to examine a specific tool or practice; others use it to question how ordinary school routines can become barriers when they are rigid, punitive, or disconnected from a child’s actual needs. The tag helps connect individual incidents to larger patterns in school culture, staffing, policy implementation, and accountability, especially where educational access is limited by institutional convenience or narrow behavioural expectations. Learn more
• behaviour charts: Behaviour charts is used for content about school practices, student support systems, and day-to-day educational conditions that affect whether children can safely and meaningfully participate in learning. On k12complaints.ca, this often includes discussion of accommodation, exclusion, discipline, supervision, behaviour management, educational planning, and the practical consequences of school decisions for students and families. Some posts use this tag to examine a specific tool or practice; others use it to question how ordinary school routines can become barriers when they are rigid, punitive, or disconnected from a child’s actual needs. The tag helps connect individual incidents to larger patterns in school culture, staffing, policy implementation, and accountability, especially where educational access is limited by institutional convenience or narrow behavioural expectations. Learn more
• behavioural management: Behavioural management is the institutional language schools use when they mean control, and it functions most reliably as a mechanism for excluding neurodivergent children from the learning environments they have a right to occupy. On this site, the tag marks content examining how behavioural management operates as a proxy for the support, accommodation, and environmental adaptation that would actually provide meaningful access — replacing what a child needs with what a system finds convenient. Posts under this tag explore how behaviour plans, point systems, escalation protocols, and classroom expectations built around neurotypical compliance become the administrative scaffolding for partial schedules, suspensions, room clears, and eventual exclusion, each step framed as a reasonable response to a child who was set up to fail from the beginning. The tag connects specific practices to the broader pattern in which managing behaviour substitutes for understanding it, and where the language of safety and structure masks a refusal to resource genuine inclusion. Behavioural management, as it operates in BC schools, is less a support framework than a documentation trail — the procedural groundwork that makes a child's exclusion appear inevitable rather than engineered. Learn more