2.1.1 – Glossary of terms
Communication:
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Echolalia - repeat others' words or sentences
Expressive Communication - ability to make sense of spoken language, body language, facial
expressions and tone of voice. People on the autism spectrum may have difficulties in this
area of communication.
Joint Attention - ability to share focus on an object or area with another person. Examples of
joint attention skills include following someone else's gaze or pointed finger to look at
something
Nonverbal Communication - whether or not someone speaks clearly or without interference
Pedantic Speech - Autistic people may also use rather formal language and have an extensive
vocabulary of long and technical words. This can have positive effects (e.g. for English
writing at school) but can cause problems (communication can come across as overly
pedantic).
Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) - The Picture Exchange Communication
System (PECS) is a way for autistic people to communicate without relying on speech.
Pragmatics - refers to using language in proper context
Receptive Language - to act based on an auditory stimulus is an important and necessary
foundational skill for children with autism
Reciprocal Communication/ Interaction - Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, ranging,
for example, from abnormal social approach and failure of normal back-and-forth
conversation; to reduced sharing of interests, emotions, or affect; to failure to initiate or
respond to social interactions.
Cognitive Behaviourial Therapy - used to treat a variety of conditions including autism
spectrum disorder (ASD). The talking therapy can help patients manage their problems by
helping them recognize and understand how their behaviors, thoughts, and emotions affect
each other.
Regulation:
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Dyspraxia - dyspraxia is primarily a motor skills disorder
Fine Motor & Gross Motor - children can have varying degrees of difficulty with fine and
gross motor skills. Another study suggests autistic children could be six months behind in
gross motor skills compared to their peers, and a year behind in fine motor skills. They may
have gross-motor problems, such as a clumsy, uncoordinated gait; and difficulties with finemotor control, such as manipulating objects and writing.
Hyposensitivity - they do not really see, hear or feel anything
Hypersensitivity - seeing, hearing, or feeling something makes them feel bad.
Optimal arousal - Children also need to be able to regulate their level of arousal. For
example, a high level of arousal is optimal when running around in the playground, but the
child then needs to be able to bring their arousal level back down to return to the classroom,
sit at their desk and attend to their learning task.
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Progressive muscle relaxation - Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) is a great technique to
use with children struggling with self-regulation because it allows for personalization of the
scripted passages we use to guide the exercise. PMR focuses on relaxing, then tensing,
specific groups of muscles. It teaches the child to notice the differences between how
muscles feel when they are relaxed, versus when they are tense. Besides the calming effect
PMR has, it also teaches the child to recognize when their body feels stressed and will help
them develop skills to reduce tension and self-regulate.
Sensory diet A sensory diet is a group of activities that are specifically scheduled into a child's day to
assist with attention, arousal and adaptive responses. The activities are chosen for that child's
needs based on sensory integration theory.
Self regulation - Emotional self-regulation is the ability to adapt behavior when engaged in
situations that might provoke emotions such as stress, anxiety, annoyance and frustration
Stereotypical behaviour - It includes repetitive behavior such as rapidly flapping their hands,
rocking, repeating phrases or even sounds, moving things in front of their eyes, etc. Selfstimulatory behavior is very common in individuals with autism and is different for each
person. It can happen when the individual is bored, overwhelmed, nervous, or happy. It
depends on the individual.
Cognitive Processing:
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Errorless learning - children with autism do not learn as successfully from their mistakes as
typical children may, but instead continue to repeat them.
Learning styles - students with autism are often offered visual supports for their learning,
they stated their preferences for learning through a variety of different modalities which
include tactile, visual, auditory and kinesthetic. There are commonalities among the
emotional needs of students with autism as well.
Rote Memory - a learning technique where students repeat certain facts or figures until it is
instilled in their memory bank
Generalization - Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have
difficulty generalizing – i.e., relating new stimuli to past experiences. This lack of imitation
also makes it hard for autistic people to intuitively grasp cultural norms.
Executive functioning - Executive functioning refers to a person's ability to process
information. It includes skills such as: Organizing. Planning.
Planning - Autistic people can find organising, planning and prioritising difficult. Planning is
defined as choosing and implementing a strategy in new or routine situations in which a
sequence of planned actions must be monitored, judged and updated in light of a prespecified goal (Hill 2004; Ward and Morris 2005). This complex cognitive ability enables us
to perform adaptive behavior.
Working memory - Working memory is the system that actively holds multiple pieces of
transitory information in the mind, where they can be manipulated. This system has a limited
capacity. Working memory is a part of the executive functions (EF), an umbrella term
for cognitive processes that regulate, control, and manage other cognitive processes, for
instance planning and attention.
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Sequencing - Sequencing, or putting tasks or objects in order, can be a challenge for children
with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This is an element of executive functioning that
involves such undertakings as following directions, telling stories, making a schedule, and
establishing priorities.
Shifting attention - children with autism have trouble switching attention between two modes
of stimuli, in this case sight and sound. This could underlie deficits in language, which
requires the integration of both types of information, the researchers suggest.
Sources:
https://autism.lovetoknow.com/Sequencing_Activities_for_Autistic_Students
https://autism.unc.edu/resources/autism-definition-and-signs
https://autismspectrumnews.org/learning-style-preferences-of-students-with-autism-and-howthey-align-or-differ-from-their-typical-peers/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism_and_working_memory
https://i-am-autism.org.uk/what-is-the-autism-spectrum/
https://onlinegrad.pepperdine.edu/blog/emotional-self-regulation-children-autism/
https://profectum.org/motor-development-autism-affects-motorskills/#:~:text=Studies%20have%20shown%20autistic%20children,behind%20in%20fine%20m
otor%20skills.
https://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bar/4/4/378.html
https://raisingchildren.net.au/autism/therapies-guide/pecs
https://rehab.pesi.com/blog/details/975/how-to-progressive-muscle-relaxation-for-self-regulation
https://tophat.com/glossary/r/rote-memory/
https://www.acornautism.co.nz/blog/2020/06/17-arousal-level-selfregulation#:~:text=Children%20also%20need%20to%20be,attend%20to%20their%20learning%
20task.
https://www.autismtas.org.au/about-autism/key-areas-of-difference/social-communicationdifferences/
https://www.dentalcare.com/en-us/professional-education/ce-courses/ce402/stereotypicalbehavior
https://www.fau.edu/education/centersandprograms/card/documents/errorlessteaching.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4573235/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5357294/
https://www.news-medical.net/health/Cognitive-Behavioral-Therapy-forAutism.aspx#:~:text=Cognitive%20behavioral%20therapy%20is%20used,and%20emotions%20
affect%20each%20other.
https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/autism/conditioninfo/treatments/jointattention#:~:text=En%20Espa%C3%B1ol,finger%20to%20look%20at%20something.
https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/cognition-and-behavior-autism-linked-to-focused-attention/
https://www.ssdmo.org/cool_tools/inclusive/Resources/trying_to_make_sense_resources.pdf