SPCE 680: Introduction to Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders - SAFMEDS Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering core terms, concepts, assessments, and behavioral principles from SPCE 680: Introduction to Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

AB Design

Consists of baseline and a single intervention condition.

Alternating Interventions Design

Consists of two or more interventions, and conditions are alternated repeatedly.

Apraxia

Inability to perform purposeful actions, such as simple movements or speech.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)

Includes all forms of communication (other than oral speech) that are used to express thoughts, needs, wants, and ideas.

Autism Diagnostic Interview (ADI-R)

A standardized interview that helps diagnose autism spectrum conditions (ASC) in children and adults.

Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale (ADOS)

A standardized observational assessment tool that helps diagnose autism spectrum conditions (ASC) in children and adults.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

A neurological and developmental disorder characterized by social communication skill deficits and the presence of restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, use of objects, or speech. Symptoms begin early in the developmental period and cause clinically significant distress.

Behavioral Contrast

Refers to a phenomenon in behavioral psychology where a change in the rate of reinforcement for a behavior in one setting or condition leads to an opposite change in that behavior in another setting or condition.

Collaborating with Colleagues

Behavior analysts collaborate with others to improve the services of their clients and compromise when faced with conflict.

Collecting and Using Data

Behavior analysts collect, represent, and analyze data accurately to make decisions about the client's care.

Comorbid Conditions

Conditions that are often likely to co-occur. For example, ADHD and specific learning disability.

Considering Medical Needs

Behavior analysts refer and document the referral for their clients if they suspect that medical or biological variables impact client behavior.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Edition (DSM-5)

American Psychiatric Association’s professional reference book used to aid diagnosis of mental health and brain-related conditions.

Differential Diagnosis

The process of differentiating between two or more conditions which share similar signs or symptoms.

Echolalia

The involuntary repetition of words or phrases that someone else says.

Epilepsy

A brain disease where nerve cells do not signal properly, which causes seizures.

Quality of Life

A multi-dimensional measurement of a person’s overall well-being and happiness.

Incidence

The number of new cases per person-year.

Intellectual Disability

When a person acquires knowledge or skills at a slower rate due to below average intellectual functioning and experiences limited adaptive skills.

Intervention

A planned set of actions or strategies designed to change, improve, or influence a specific behavior, skill, or situation.

Intervention Acceptability

Refers to the extent to which the people involved (such as participants, caregivers, teachers, or clinicians) find an intervention to be appropriate, fair, reasonable, and satisfactory.

Joint Attention

When one person purposefully coordinates his or her focus of attention with that of another person.

Learning

A change in behavior.

Medication

A chemical compound used to treat or cure illness.

Mental Health

A person's condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being. It should inform behavior analytic treatment and referrals to other providers.

Motor Imitation

Occurs when a model evokes a physical response which is topographically identical.

Neurodiversity

An anti-ableist approach to viewing variations in how the brain functions as natural (as opposed to a deficit). The most commonly identified neurodiverse conditions are autism, ADHD, and dyslexia.

Operational Definition

A way of describing behavior by its topography (what it looks like) and/or its function (what consequence it secures) in order to ensure that two different observers could identify the same behavior. The description should be clear, concise, observable, and measurable.

Pica

The ingestion of inedible objects.

Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)

A communication system based on applied behavior analysis (ABA) that uses pictures to help people with communication difficulties. A form of AAC.

Predatory Journal

A journal that appears legitimate but is not because it engages in unethical practice or ignores safeguards to ensure a high quality of scientific quality.

Person centered care

Providing services based on the unique views of the client.

Prevalence

The proportion of a population found to have a particular condition at a specific time.

Primacy Criterion

A means of assessing the validity of theory regarding the causes of a disorder (or facet of a disorder) based on the fact that cause always precedes effect.

Procedural Accuracy Data

Refers to data collected to determine how accurately and consistently an intervention, teaching strategy, or behavior support plan is being implemented as intended.

Progress Monitoring

The process of regularly measuring and tracking a persons’s academic or behavioral performance to determine how well they are responding to instruction or intervention.

Prompt Dependency

Refers to a situation where a person becomes overly reliant on prompts from others to complete tasks or respond appropriately.

Randomization

A method based on chance alone by which study participants are assigned to a treatment group. It minimizes the differences among groups by equally distributing people with particular characteristics among all the trial arms.

Repertoire

Everything the person is currently capable of.

Response

An observable and measurable action or behavior.

Restrictive Repetitive Behaviors (RRBs)

A broad category of behaviors that are characterized by a strong preference for sameness and frequent repetition of actions.

Ritualistic Behavior

Behavior in which an individual's free time and conversation is dominated by their special interest or obsession.

Scope of Practice

The range of tasks people certified or licensed is able to perform within their field of specialization.

Selective Mutism

A mental health condition in which the person is unable to speak in certain social situations often attributed to fear or anxiety.

Self-injurious Behaviors (SIBs)

Behaviors that inflict harm on person emitting the behavior.

Self-determination

The idea that people have the right to make decisions about their own lives.

Self-Stimulatory Behavior

Often called "stimming", refers to repetitive body movements or repetitive movements of objects that people use to stimulate their senses or regulate emotions.

Sensory Defensiveness

A condition in which a person has an overreaction or heightened sensitivity to sensory input that most people would find typical or non-threatening.

Single Case Design

A research method where a small number of participants are evaluated under carefully controlled conditions to monitor behavior over time.

Social Stories

Short prescriptive or proscriptive descriptions of a particular situation, event or activity, which include specific information about what to expect in that situation and why. These discriptions also include visual images corresponding to the descriptions.

Social Support

Solicit support from others and create a natural context for the behavior. Ex: Sam joins a group that is managing caloric intake and they monitor each others' progress on their calorie counting app.

Subjectivity

Refers to how someone’s thoughts, feelings, opinions, or personal experiences influence their perception or interpretation of something. It is the opposite of objectivity, which is based on facts and evidence independent of personal bias.

Support Needs

The level of supports needed for an Autistic person to successfully navigate an environment in a way that is associated with a higher quality of life.

Systematic Review

Typically includes an analysis of the quality, quantity, and consistency of the literature related to either (1) the effectiveness of one treatment across populations or (2) the effectiveness of any treatment for one given population.

Target Client

Individual who receives the treatment.

Temporal Extent

This property represents the elapsed time of a response or "how long?"

Temporal Locus

This property represents when the behavior occurs with latency as the measure.

Testable Behaviors

Determining what the cause of the behavior actually is.

Three-Term Contingency

Antecedent-Behavior-Consequences. Used to study and understand why behavior occurs.

Treatment Integrity

Represents the accuracy with which the intervention or independent variable is implemented.