Category: U

A mother who is not married at the time she gives birth to a child. Unlike the unwed father, she retains parents’ rights and parents’ responsibilities unless she chooses to give them up.  

Term for the presumed biological father if a child’s parents are not married and paternity has not been acknowledged or established; legally, sometimes called putative father, against whom a paternity suit may be brought in some situations.  

Description of someone (often a juvenile delinquent) whose behavior is disruptive and troublesome, especially flaunting authority. The term implies that the behavior results from lack of or inadequacy of proper role-models from which the juvenile might learn more acceptable kinds of behavior.  

An academic institution that offers post-high school educational programs and is made up of one or more colleges, graduate schools, and professional schools grouped together, often with a substantial focus on research, in addition to teaching.  

A class in which students are not grouped according to grades (1, 2, 3, etc.) but instead by their level of skill or by category (such as all handicapped children requiring special services). Many special education classes are ungraded, as are many adult or continuing education classes. Occasionally, whole schools are run on an ungraded…

A parent regarded as having a life-style or personal history so harmful to the child as to make the court bar all contact, including visitation rights, as in cases of severe child abuse and neglect or abandonment.  

A type of malocclusion in which the lower jaw and front teeth jut out in front of the upper ones. A form of malocculsion (irregular alignment) in which the lower teeth are positioned in front of the upper teeth when the jaw is closed. An underbite is usually due to a person’s heredity and may…

A student whose academic performance is usually well below educators’ estimates of his or her potential, especially a student whose scores on standardized tests of ability are consistently higher than those on achievement tests. Students fail to work up to expected potential for a variety of reasons. A very bright student may be bored and…

Usher syndrome is a rare autosomal-recessive disorder manifested primarily by sensorineural hearing loss and retinitis pigmentosa. Although others described the syndrome earlier, it is named for Charles Usher, a British ophthalmologist who emphasized the role of heredity in the disorder. The degree of hearing loss in most affected individuals is severe to profound. Retinitis pigmentosa…

Urticaria pigmentosa (UP) is the most common form of mastocytosis, which is a disorder characterized by mast cell proliferation (increases in cells that contain histamine and heparin) and accumulation within various organs, most commonly the skin. It is a disease that produces skin lesions, intense itching, and hive formation at the site of the lesion…