Category: P

In the law, suspending a sentence imposed by a court, on certain conditions, often including good behavior, some kind of treatment, and supervision by a court-appointed professional probate officer. Juveniles convicted of a crime, especially a first offense, are often made wards of the court and put on probation; so are parents convicted of child…

The type of court that handles questions regarding the estates of people who have died, either affirming the validity of an existing will or handling distribution of assets if the person died intestate (without a will), under the state’s laws of inheritance rights. Probate court may also handle some questions relating to adoption and guardians.…

The first form of writing that children learn in elementary school, in which each letter is formed separately and looks approximately like its counterpart in printed books, as opposed to cursive writing, in which letters are joined together.  

A system of laws under which the family property is passed intact to the first-born son, with none going to other children, male or female. Once common in Europe and elsewhere, such laws do not apply in the modern United States.  

A group of reflexes involuntary, automatic movements in reaction to particular stimuli or events  that are normally found only in newborns and that disappear in the first few months. Among them are the grasp reflex, tonic neck reflex, moro’s reflex (startle reflex), walking (or Stepping) reflex, and rooting reflex. In at least some children with…

A kind of tumor that originated at the site where found, as opposed to a secondary tumor started by malignant cells originating elsewhere in the body. In a patient with metastatic cancer, the lesion assumed to be the source of the metastases.  

Alternate term for elementary school; the term primary is also used to refer to the lower elementary grades, 1 to 3, sometimes including kindergarten.  

General term for a range of programs for pre-kindergarten children, generally from ages two or three to five; sometimes used synonymously with early childhood education. Although the term does not cover informal play groups, preschool refers to any group or class organized for educational experience for children before they enter elementary school (either in kindergarten…

Learning that must be accomplished successfully before more advanced learning can be started. More specifically, a prerequisite is often a course that a student is required to take before taking another (algebra before calculus, for example). A prerequisite is also a skill that is felt necessary before a high-level skill can be learned, in this…

A type of private school, generally a boarding school, geared to providing intensive secondary education aimed at putting the students on a “fast track” to prestigious colleges and universities, such as the Ivy League schools.