59 terms · plain English
A–Z Autism Glossary
The words you meet during assessment, school meetings and support can be a lot. Here are the clinical, communication, sensory and neurodiversity terms explained in plain English — jump to a letter or read straight through.
These are general, plain-English explanations to help you follow conversations and paperwork — not diagnostic criteria or medical advice. Terms are used differently by different professionals; always ask what someone means in your child's case.
A
- AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication)
- Ways of communicating other than (or alongside) speech — including communication devices and apps, symbol boards, sign language, typing, and picture cards.
- Apraxia / Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)
- A motor speech difficulty affecting the planning and coordination of speech movements. The person knows what they want to say but may struggle to produce it consistently.
- Autism / Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
- A neurodevelopmental condition involving differences in communication, social interaction, sensory processing, and patterns of behaviour or interests.
B
- Burnout (Autistic Burnout)
- A state of intense exhaustion, loss of skills, and reduced tolerance for demands, resulting from prolonged stress and the effort of adapting to a non-autistic world.
C
- Capacity
- The ability to understand, retain, and weigh up information and to communicate a decision.
- Co-occurring Condition
- A condition that occurs alongside autism — such as ADHD, anxiety, epilepsy, dyspraxia, intellectual disability, or apraxia.
- Co-regulation
- Support from another person that helps someone manage their emotions, sensory experiences, or behaviour.
D
- Demand Avoidance
- Avoiding requests, expectations, or demands — often linked to anxiety, stress, or a need for autonomy.
- Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)
- A language disorder affecting the understanding and/or use of language.
- Dyspraxia / Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD)
- Difficulties with motor planning, coordination, and movement.
E
- Echolalia
- Repeating words, phrases, or sounds heard from other people or media. It can be immediate or delayed, and is often meaningful communication.
- Executive Functioning
- Mental processes involved in planning, organising, starting tasks, shifting attention, and self-monitoring.
F
- Fluctuating Capacity
- Changes in a person's ability to make decisions or communicate, depending on stress, fatigue, sensory load, health, environment, anxiety, or the support available.
- Functional Communication
- Communication that effectively expresses needs, wants, feelings, thoughts, or information — by any means, not only speech.
G
- Gestalt Language Processing (GLP)
- A language style in which larger units (whole phrases, scripts or chunks) are learned first and gradually broken down into smaller parts. An emerging framework that is still debated in research.
- Gestalt Language Processor
- A person who develops language primarily through gestalt language processing.
H
- Hyperfocus
- Intense, sustained concentration on a preferred activity or interest.
- Hyperlexia
- Reading ability that develops earlier, or is more advanced, than expected for the age.
- Hypersensitivity
- Increased sensitivity to sensory input.
- Hyposensitivity
- Reduced sensitivity to sensory input.
I
- Intellectual Disability (ID)
- Significant differences in intellectual functioning and everyday adaptive skills.
- Interoception
- Awareness of internal body sensations such as hunger, thirst, pain, temperature, or needing the toilet.
J
- Joint Attention
- Sharing attention with another person towards an object, event, or activity.
L
- Literal Thinking
- Interpreting language by its exact meaning rather than its implied or figurative meaning.
M
- Masking (Camouflaging)
- Consciously or unconsciously hiding autistic traits and copying expected social behaviours — often at a high cost to wellbeing.
- Meltdown
- An involuntary response to overwhelming stress, sensory overload, or emotional demands. It is not a tantrum and not deliberate.
- Monotropism
- A theory that autistic attention tends to focus deeply on a small number of interests or activities at a time, rather than spread broadly across many.
- Motor Planning
- The brain's process of organising and carrying out movement.
N
- Neurodivergent
- Having a brain that works differently from what society treats as typical.
- Neurodiversity
- The idea that neurological differences are a natural and valuable part of human variation.
- Neurotypical
- A person whose neurological development matches common societal expectations.
O
- Occupational Therapy (OT)
- Therapy focused on taking part in everyday activities, sensory processing, motor skills, and independence.
P
- Parallel Play
- Playing alongside others without direct interaction.
- Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA)
- A profile — also called Pervasive Drive for Autonomy — marked by extreme, anxiety-driven avoidance of everyday demands and a strong need for control. It is a descriptive profile, not a formal standalone diagnosis.
- Perseveration
- Difficulty shifting away from a thought, topic, activity, or behaviour.
- Presuming Competence
- Assuming a person can understand, learn, and communicate, and giving them the right support — without needing them to prove it first.
- Processing Time
- The time someone needs to take in information and form a response.
- Prosody
- The rhythm, stress, and intonation patterns of speech.
R
- Regulation / Self-Regulation
- Managing emotional, sensory, and physical states.
- Repetitive Behaviours
- Repeated actions, routines, movements, or interests that can support regulation and predictability.
- Restricted Interests
- Strongly focused interests that may be pursued with great intensity.
S
- Scripted Speech
- Using memorised phrases or sentences to communicate.
- Self-Advocacy
- Communicating one's own needs, preferences, rights, and support.
- Sensory Avoidance
- Avoiding sensory experiences that feel overwhelming or uncomfortable.
- Sensory Diet
- A planned set of sensory activities designed to support regulation (an occupational-therapy approach).
- Sensory Overload
- When sensory input exceeds what a person can comfortably process.
- Sensory Processing Differences
- Differences in how sensory information is perceived and responded to.
- Sensory Seeking
- Actively seeking out sensory experiences.
- Shutdown
- A withdrawal response to overwhelm, which may involve reduced speech, movement, interaction, or responsiveness.
- Social Communication
- Using language and non-verbal communication effectively in social situations.
- Speaking
- Producing spoken language. A person may be verbal (uses language) but not reliably speaking.
- Special Interest
- A highly focused, meaningful, and often joyful area of interest.
- Stimming (Self-Stimulatory Behaviour)
- Repetitive movements, sounds, or actions used for regulation, expression, focus, or sensory needs.
T
- Theory of Mind
- Understanding that other people have thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and perspectives different from one's own. Framing this as a one-way “deficit” in autistic people is increasingly questioned (see the double empathy problem).
- Transition Difficulty
- Difficulty moving from one activity, place, expectation, or state of mind to another.
U
- Uneven (Spiky) Profile
- A pattern where strengths and challenges vary a lot across different skills or areas.
- Unreliable Speech
- Speech that may be available in some situations but not in others.
V
- Verbal
- Using words or language to communicate.
W
- Wait Time
- Deliberate pauses that give someone extra time to process and respond.
Sources & further reading
Definitions were written in plain English and checked against reputable sources including the National Autistic Society, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the NHS, and peer-reviewed research on autism. They aim to reflect respectful, neurodiversity-affirming language.