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Autism Glossary

This glossary compiles terminology spanning autism spectrum diagnosis, clinical assessment tools, therapeutic interventions, behavioral science, sensory processing, identity and language, education law, adult transition and financial planning, insurance navigation, and research methodology. Terms are drawn from public health, clinical, applied behavior analysis (ABA), special-education, and family-navigation sources.

Showing 147 of 147 terms

Diagnosis and Clinical Classification

Autism Spectrum DisorderASD
A lifelong neurodevelopmental condition marked by persistent differences in social communication and interaction, alongside restricted or repetitive behaviors, interests, and sensory patterns; the term "spectrum" reflects wide variation in presentation and support needs.
Asperger SyndromeAS
A historical diagnostic subtype under the pre-DSM-5 Pervasive Developmental Disorder umbrella, characterized by average-to-above-average language and cognitive skills alongside social and behavioral differences typical of autism.
Pervasive Developmental DisorderPDD
The umbrella term used in DSM-IV encompassing Autism, Asperger Syndrome, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, Rett Syndrome, and PDD-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), later consolidated into ASD under DSM-5.
PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder---Not Otherwise Specified)
A former diagnostic category for individuals showing some, but not all, criteria for autism or another PDD subtype.
Childhood Disintegrative DisorderCDD
A rare condition involving typical early development followed by significant loss of previously acquired skills, later folded into ASD.
Rett Syndrome
A genetic neurodevelopmental disorder, historically grouped with autism spectrum conditions, primarily affecting females and marked by regression of purposeful hand skills and language.
DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition)
The American Psychiatric Association\'s diagnostic reference that consolidated autism subtypes into a single ASD category defined by two core criteria: social communication deficits and restricted/repetitive behavior patterns.
ICD-11 (International Classification of Diseases, 11th Edition)
The World Health Organization\'s global diagnostic manual, used internationally alongside or instead of DSM-5 criteria.
Core Diagnostic Features
The two defining criteria for ASD: persistent deficits in social communication/interaction, and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities.
DSM-5 Severity Levels (Level 1, 2, 3)
The system DSM-5 uses to indicate how much support a person needs in the two core domains (social communication; restricted/repetitive behavior). Level 1 = "requiring support," Level 2 = "requiring substantial support," Level 3 = "requiring very substantial support." Levels can differ between the two domains and can change over time or by context; they describe support needs, not a fixed trait.
Functioning Labels ("High-Functioning" / "Low-Functioning")
Informal, non-clinical shorthand once used to describe perceived ability level. Increasingly discouraged in clinical and advocacy settings because it is imprecise, can mask fluctuating or uneven support needs (e.g., strong verbal skills alongside significant daily-living needs), and can be experienced as dismissive.
Comorbidity / Co-occurring Conditions
The presence of one or more additional conditions alongside autism, such as ADHD, anxiety, epilepsy, or intellectual disability.
Intellectual DisabilityID
A condition involving below-average intellectual functioning (commonly an IQ score of 70 or below) alongside limitations in adaptive, daily-living skills.
Borderline Range Intellectual Functioning
Lower-than-average intelligence (typically IQ 71--85) that does not meet criteria for intellectual disability.
Developmental Delay
A persistent lag in reaching one or more expected developmental milestones in growth, movement, communication, learning, or play.
Prevalence
The proportion of a defined population with a condition at a specific point in time, typically expressed as a percentage; distinct from incidence, which measures new cases over a period.
Screening
A brief, standardized process (often a parent or clinician questionnaire) used to flag children who may be at risk for a developmental disorder like ASD; screening is not diagnostic but signals the need for further evaluation.
Comprehensive Developmental Evaluation
An in-depth, multidisciplinary review of a child\'s play, learning, communication, behavior, and movement patterns over time, used to determine whether a child meets criteria for ASD.
Developmental Surveillance
Ongoing monitoring across pediatric visits to identify children at risk of developmental delay, incorporating parental concerns and clinical observation.
Red Flags for ASD
Early behavioral or developmental warning signs (e.g., lack of eye contact, absent pointing, no response to name) prompting referral for evaluation.

Diagnostic and Rating Instruments

Autism Diagnostic Observation ScheduleADOS
A semi-structured, play-based observational assessment of communication, social interaction, and imaginative use of materials, considered a gold-standard diagnostic tool.
Autism Diagnostic Interview---RevisedADI-R
A standardized caregiver interview assessing reciprocal social interaction, communication/language, and restricted or repetitive behaviors.
Childhood Autism Rating ScaleCARS
A 15-item behavioral rating scale scored on a four-point severity index used to help identify and grade the severity of autism.
Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT) / Modified Checklist for Autism in ToddlersM-CHAT
Brief parent/clinician questionnaires administered around 18 months to flag social-communication risk; the M-CHAT is a 23-item condensed version of CHAT.
Social Communication QuestionnaireSCQ
A 40-item caregiver questionnaire, derived from the ADI-R, used to screen for ASD symptoms in children age four and older.
Asperger Syndrome Diagnostic ScaleASDS
A standardized tool measuring cognitive, language, sensorimotor, and social skills relevant to an Asperger\'s diagnosis.
Aberrant Behavior Checklist
A 58-item behavior rating scale assessing irritability, social withdrawal, stereotypy, hyperactivity, and inappropriate speech.
Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales
Assessment domains covering motor, self-care, domestic, and community skills used to gauge functional independence.
Assessment of Basic Language and Learning SkillsABLLS
A curriculum-based assessment and skills-tracking tool identifying language and learning deficits to guide individualized instruction.

Therapies and Interventions

Applied Behavior AnalysisABA
An evidence-based therapeutic approach rooted in learning and behavior science; it uses reinforcement and structured teaching to build skills and reduce interfering behaviors, and is widely regarded as the primary evidence-based treatment for ASD.
Discrete Trial Training/TeachingDTT
A structured ABA teaching method breaking skills into small steps, each involving an instruction, a prompted or independent response, and a consequence.
Natural Environment TrainingNET
An ABA approach embedding teaching opportunities into activities chosen by the learner rather than structured drills.
Intensive Behavioural InterventionIBI
A comprehensive, high-intensity ABA-based therapy delivered one-on-one across all learning domains.
Early Start Denver ModelESDM
A developmental, relationship-based early intervention model blending ABA principles with naturalistic play for toddlers with ASD.
Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral InterventionNDBI
An umbrella term for approaches --- including ESDM and Pivotal Response Treatment --- that blend ABA teaching strategies with developmental science and are delivered inside natural play and everyday routines rather than structured drills.
Pivotal Response TreatmentPRT
A naturalistic, play-based intervention that targets a small number of "pivotal" skills (motivation, self-initiation, responding to multiple cues), with the goal of producing broad improvements across many other skills as a result.
DIR/Floortime
A developmental model ("Developmental, Individual differences, Relationship-based") that follows the child\'s lead in play to build social, emotional, and communication capacities.
Relationship Development InterventionRDI
A parent-delivered program focused on building flexible thinking, perspective-taking, and dynamic social relationships through guided, everyday interactions.
SCERTS Model (Social Communication, Emotional Regulation, Transactional Support)
A comprehensive, team-based educational framework that prioritizes social communication and emotional regulation while coordinating supports across home, school, and community settings.
Functional Communication TrainingFCT
An intervention teaching an appropriate communicative response to replace an interfering behavior serving the same function.
Picture Exchange Communication SystemPECS
An augmentative communication method in which individuals exchange picture cards to request items or communicate needs.
Augmentative and Alternative CommunicationAAC
Any tool or method, such as picture boards or speech-generating devices, supplementing or replacing spoken communication.
Speech-Language TherapySLP
Assessment and treatment of communication, language, and speech delays or disorders provided by a speech-language pathologist.
PROMPT (Prompts for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets)
A tactile-kinesthetic speech-therapy technique in which a clinician uses touch cues on the face and jaw to guide correct articulation and speech movement.
Hanen Program
A family of parent-coaching programs (e.g., "It Takes Two to Talk") that teach caregivers strategies to build language and social communication during everyday interactions at home.
Occupational TherapyOT
Therapy addressing fine motor skills, sensory processing, and daily-living skills to enhance independence and participation in activities.
Physical Therapy (PT) / Physiotherapy
Intervention targeting gross motor skills, coordination, and physical function, distinct from OT\'s focus on daily-living activities.
Sensory Integration TherapySI
An occupational-therapy-based approach helping individuals process and respond appropriately to sensory input across touch, movement, sound, and other senses.
Feeding Therapy
Therapy (often OT- or SLP-led) addressing selective eating, oral-motor difficulties, or sensory aversions that interfere with a varied and safe diet.
Cognitive-Behavioral TherapyCBT
A structured psychotherapy identifying and reframing negative thought patterns, often used to address co-occurring anxiety or depression in autistic individuals.
Social Skills Training / Social Stories
Structured instruction or narrative tools teaching appropriate social responses and easing transitions or unfamiliar situations.
Zones of Regulation
A curriculum that sorts emotional and energy states into four color-coded "zones" to help individuals recognize their own state and choose strategies to manage it.
Auditory Integration TrainingAIT
A sound-based intervention intended to normalize auditory processing sensitivities, though evidence for efficacy is limited.
Music Therapy
A therapeutic modality using singing, movement, and instrument play to build communicative and social responses.
Gluten-Free/Casein-Free (GFCF) Diet
A dietary intervention eliminating wheat and dairy proteins based on a hypothesis linking incomplete peptide digestion to autism symptoms; evidence for effectiveness remains limited.
Enzyme-Based Therapy / Anti-Yeast Treatment
Biologically based interventions targeting digestive enzyme deficits or intestinal yeast (Candida albicans), used with limited scientific support.
Pharmacological Interventions
Medication-based treatments; examples include atypical antipsychotics (e.g., risperidone) for irritability and repetitive behavior, SSRIs for anxiety or repetitive behavior, and stimulants for co-occurring ADHD symptoms.

ABA-Specific Terminology

Reinforcement (Positive/Negative)
A consequence that increases the likelihood of a behavior recurring; positive reinforcement adds a desired stimulus, while negative reinforcement removes an aversive one.
Prompting and Prompt Fading
Providing cues, models, or physical assistance to support correct responding, followed by the gradual, systematic removal of that support to build independence.
Shaping
Reinforcing successive approximations of a target behavior until the full behavior is achieved.
Chaining
Breaking a complex task into sequential steps taught individually until the whole task can be performed independently.
Task Analysis
Breaking a skill or behavior sequence into smaller, teachable components.
Generalization
Demonstrating a learned skill across new people, settings, or materials, or performing an untaught behavior similar to one previously taught.
Maintenance
Retention of a learned skill after the original teaching procedure has ended.
Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) / Functional Analysis
A structured process, including interviews, observations, and experimental manipulation, used to determine the purpose or "function" a behavior serves for an individual.
Antecedent, Behavior, ConsequenceABC
The three-part framework describing what occurs before (antecedent) and after (consequence) a target behavior.
Discriminative Stimulus
An environmental cue signaling that reinforcement is available for a specific behavior.
Mand, Tact, Echoic, Intraverbal
Verbal Behavior categories: a mand is a request driven by motivation; a tact labels an object or event; an echoic repeats heard speech; an intraverbal is a conversational reply to another\'s speech.
Token Economy
A reinforcement system in which symbolic tokens are earned for desired behavior and later exchanged for a reward.
Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) / Behaviour Support PlanBSP
An individualized, evidence-based plan outlining strategies to reduce interfering behaviors and build replacement skills.
Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) / Registered Behavior TechnicianRBT
Credentialed professionals who design (BCBA) and implement (RBT) ABA treatment plans.

Behavioral and Sensory Terms

Stimming (Self-Stimulatory Behavior)
Repetitive movements or sounds, such as hand-flapping or rocking, often used for self-regulation, sensory input, or soothing.
Echolalia
The repetition of previously heard words or phrases, either immediately or after a delay ("delayed echolalia"), common in autistic language development.
Scripting
Repeating memorized dialogue or phrases from media or prior conversations, often used communicatively or for regulation.
Perseveration
Persistent repetition of a question, action, or topic beyond its relevance or usefulness in context.
Masking / Camouflaging
The conscious or unconscious suppression of autistic traits to conform to social expectations, often linked to fatigue and mental health strain.
Meltdown
An intense response to overwhelming sensory, emotional, or cognitive input, distinct from a tantrum in that it is not goal-directed or attention-seeking.
Shutdown
A withdrawal response to overwhelming stimulation, characterized by reduced responsiveness rather than outward behavioral escalation.
Tantrum
A goal-directed behavior aimed at obtaining attention or access to a desired item, typically ending once the goal is met, unlike a meltdown.
Elopement / Wandering
Leaving a supervised space without permission, a significant safety concern in the autism community.
Self-Injurious BehaviorSIB
Behavior causing physical harm to oneself, such as head-banging or biting, which may serve communicative, regulatory, or sensory functions.
Joint Attention
The shared focus of two individuals on an object or event, foundational to early social communication and often reduced in autistic children.
Prosody
The rhythm, pitch, stress, and intonation of speech; many autistic individuals display atypical prosody, such as flat or "sing-song" intonation.
Pragmatics
The social use of language, including turn-taking, topic maintenance, and reading nonverbal cues.
Sensory Processing DisorderSPD
A neurological condition in which the brain has difficulty receiving and responding to sensory information, often producing hyper- or hypo-sensitivity.
Hyper-Responsiveness / Sensory Defensiveness
Abnormal over-reactivity to sensory input, such as strong distress at ordinary sounds or textures.
Hypo-Responsiveness
Abnormal under-reactivity to sensory input, sometimes producing high pain tolerance or sensory-seeking behavior.
Proprioception
The body\'s internal sense of position and movement, aiding coordination and spatial awareness.
Interoception
The internal sense of the body\'s own physiological state --- hunger, thirst, heart rate, needing the bathroom, or rising emotion. Atypical interoception is common in autism and is closely tied to self-regulation and emotional awareness.
Vestibular System
The sensory system governing balance and spatial orientation.
Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors (RRBs)
A core diagnostic domain covering repetitive movements, insistence on sameness, narrow or intense interests, and unusual sensory reactivity.
Insistence on Sameness
Rigid adherence to routines or rituals, often producing distress when disrupted.
Splinter Skill
A skill area in which an individual performs markedly better than in most other domains.
Savant Skills
Exceptional, highly specific abilities (e.g., memory, calculation, or musical skill) present in a small subset of autistic individuals.
Co-Regulation
External support --- a calm presence, coaching, or environmental adjustment --- that helps a person manage rising stress or emotion, often as a step toward being able to self-regulate independently.
Executive Functioning
The set of cognitive skills --- planning, organization, flexible thinking, working memory, impulse control --- that support goal-directed behavior; a frequent area of difference in autism, distinct from intelligence.
Alexithymia
Difficulty identifying and describing one\'s own emotions. It is common, though not universal, among autistic individuals and is a distinct trait from social-communication differences.
Neurodivergent / Neurodiversity
Terms describing brain function and processing that differ from typical patterns, framed as natural variation rather than deficit; encompasses autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and related conditions.
NeurotypicalNT
A term describing individuals whose neurological development follows typical patterns, i.e., not on the autism spectrum.
Double Empathy Problem
The idea that communication breakdowns between autistic and non-autistic people arise from a mutual, two-way mismatch in how each group interprets the other --- rather than being a one-sided deficit in the autistic person.

Identity, Language, and Self-Advocacy

Identity-First Language ("autistic person") vs. Person-First Language ("person with autism")
Two conventions for referring to autism. Many autistic adults and self-advocates prefer identity-first language, viewing autism as inseparable from identity; some individuals and families prefer person-first language. Preference is individual --- when in doubt, it\'s fine to ask.
Self-Advocacy
Autistic individuals speaking, organizing, or making decisions for themselves about their own needs, rights, and preferences, rather than having decisions made solely on their behalf.
Neurodiversity Movement
A social and civil-rights framework asserting that neurological differences, including autism, are natural variations of the human brain rather than deficits to be cured, and advocating for acceptance and accommodation.

Insurance, Funding, and Navigation Terms

Prior Authorization
Approval an insurer requires before it will cover a service, such as a course of ABA therapy or a specific evaluation.
Medical Necessity
An insurer\'s determination that a treatment is required to diagnose or treat a condition; many plans require this determination before covering therapy services.
In-Network / Out-of-Network Provider
A provider\'s status with a given insurance plan. In-network providers have a negotiated rate with the insurer, generally meaning lower out-of-pocket costs than an out-of-network provider.
Explanation of BenefitsEOB
A statement from an insurer, sent after a claim is processed, detailing what was billed, what the plan covered, and what the family may owe.
Autism Insurance Mandate
A state law requiring certain health insurance plans to cover autism-specific services, most often ABA therapy; specifics (which plans, which services, any caps) vary by state.
Waitlist
The reality, in many regions, that diagnostic evaluations and therapy openings (especially ABA and speech) can have long waits; many families register with multiple providers at once and ask to be notified of cancellations.

Research and Measurement Terms

Randomized Controlled TrialRCT
A study design in which participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups to determine an intervention\'s effectiveness.
Single-Subject Design
A research approach focused on individual participants, comparing behavior before and after intervention through repeated measurement.
Baseline
Data collected on a behavior or skill before an intervention begins, used as a comparison point.
Interobserver AgreementIOA
A measure of consistency between two independent observers recording the same behavior.
Social Validity
The extent to which the goals, procedures, and outcomes of an intervention are considered meaningful and acceptable by the client and family.
Evidence-Based Practice
Clinical decision-making integrating the best available research evidence, clinical expertise, and client values.
Peer-Reviewed Article
Research published in an academic journal after independent evaluation by expert reviewers for quality and rigor.
Procedural Fidelity (Treatment Integrity)
The degree to which an intervention is implemented exactly as designed.

Additional Common Acronyms

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity DisorderADHD
ADHD stands for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health ServicesCAMHS
CAMHS stands for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.
Global Developmental DelayGDD
GDD stands for Global Developmental Delay.
High-Functioning AutismHFA
HFA stands for High-Functioning Autism.
Pathological Demand AvoidancePDA
PDA stands for Pathological Demand Avoidance.
Response to InterventionRTI
RTI stands for Response to Intervention.
Specific Learning DisabilitySLD
SLD stands for Specific Learning Disability.
Universal Design for LearningUDL
UDL stands for Universal Design for Learning.
Social Security Disability InsuranceSSDI
SSDI stands for Social Security Disability Insurance.
Home and Community-Based Services (Medicaid waiver)HCBS
HCBS stands for Home and Community-Based Services (Medicaid waiver).
Free Appropriate Public EducationFAPE
FAPE stands for Free Appropriate Public Education.

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