2.1.1 – Glossary of terms Communication: 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: 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. 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: 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. 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. 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