A Seemingly Innocuous Term, SPED, is Usually A TikTok Slur

You might see someone mention in a TikTok post that they got a ticket because they sped on the highway. You might hear someone describing in a TikTok video how they sped to the hospital when their significant other was about to have a baby.

That’s not how the term SPED is commonly used on the social media platform, though — and it’s usually not a positive reference when you see it in TikTok content.

What Does SPED Mean on TikTok?

In general usage, SPED can stand for “Special Education.” It refers to the services provided to students with learning difficulties or disabilities who need extra help or programs to receive a proper and effective education. Those special offerings can include one-on-one or special tutoring, individual education plans (known as IEPs), and materials designed to help them learn.

The students who need that extra help are collectively called students with disabilities or special needs students. Some people also refer to them as SPEDs, but that’s not an acceptable term in the education profession. Not only is that language not considered inclusive, but it’s most often used in a derogatory manner as a deliberate slur.

In today’s slang, particularly on TikTok and other apps, SPED is wielded as a negative term that can bypass the platforms’ automated systems established to detect hurtful or offensive language.

Some TikTok users use the abbreviation as a substitute for “retarded,” which was once a medical term but has mostly been used as a slur since the 1970s and was officially replaced by “intellectually disabled” in the US in 2010. What’s now known as the “r-word” is considered to be discriminatory and offensive in medical, educational, and other polite communities.

In fact, the use of words like “retarded,” “retard,” and similar words ending in “-tard” is banned on TikTok and violates the app’s Community Guidelines that prohibit content that attacks individuals based on protected status, such as disability. TikTok accounts can be penalized or even banned for posts that use the “r-word.”

That’s why those who insist on using this negative approach to others on TikTok have settled on the term “SPED” as a substitute that is unlikely to be caught by the system’s automated moderation programs. It remains patently offensive, though, and human moderators may still take down content or penalize accounts that use it.

Context matters, of course, so there’s nothing wrong with saying that you sped to a store when you heard that the new PS5 Slim was on sale. Be careful, however, to make the meaning of the term clear when you use it.