Glossary

Acquired Brain Injury:

Acquired Brain Injury, or "ABI" - refers to any damage to the brain that occurs after birth, caused by any injury to the brain.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)/Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD):

A condition, usually in children, characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness.

Articulation Disorder:

Audiology An inability to correctly produce speech sounds because of imprecise placement, timing, pressure, speed, or flow of movement of the lips, tongue, or throat.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD):

A condition present from early childhood, characterized by difficulty in communicating and forming relationships with other people, that may include one or more of the following: repetitive behaviours, restricted range of interests, difficulty with change or transitions, a variety of sensitivities  (ie: textures, sounds, tastes, etc).

Previously called Autism, Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PPD-NOS) and/or Asberger syndrome. These terms are no longer used.

Brachial Plexus Injury:

A brachial plexus injury is an injury to the brachial plexus — the network of nerves that sends signals from your spine to your shoulder, arm and hand.

A brachial plexus injury occurs when these nerves are stretched, compressed or, in the most serious cases, torn.

Babies sometimes sustain brachial plexus injuries during birth.

Cerebral Palsy (CP):

CP Is caused by damage to the developing brain and can occur during pregnancy, childbirth, or after birth up to age 3. It can cause problems with movement sensation, cognition, communication and perception.

Cleft Lip/Palate:

Various Medical diagnosis, birth defects in which there is an opening in the lip and/or palate (roof of the mouth) that is caused by incomplete development in the womb.

Club Foot:

Clubfoot describes a range of foot abnormalities usually present at birth (congenital) in which your baby's foot is twisted out of shape or position. In clubfoot, the tissues connecting the muscles to the bone (tendons) are shorter than usual. The term "clubfoot" refers to the way the foot is positioned at a sharp angle to the ankle.

Cystic Fibrosis:

Cystic Fibrosis causes various effects on the body, but mainly affects the digestive system and lungs.

Developmental Coordination Disorder:

Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) (APA, 2000) occurs when a delay in the development of motor skills, or difficulty coordinating movements, results in a child being unable to perform everyday tasks.

Down Syndrome:

A genetic disorder arising from a defect with Chromosome 21, causing intellectual impairment and physical abnormalities including short stature and a broad facial profile.

Failure to Thrive:

Failure to thrive refers to children whose current weight or rate of weight gain is much lower than that of other children of similar age and gender. Failure to thrive may be caused by medial problems or factors in the child's environment, such as abuse or neglect.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD) (ARND):

An umbrella term describing the range of effects that can occur in an individual whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. These effects may include physical, mental, behavioural, and/or learning disabilities with possible lifelong implications.

Global Developmental Delay:

A delay in more than one area of development. EG. gross motor, social-emotional, cognitive, communication, fine motor.

Hearing Loss or Impairment:

Hearing impairment or loss occurs when there is a problem with or damage to, one or more parts of the ear. A conductive hearing loss results from a problem with the outer ear (ear canal or ear drum) or middle ear. EG. middle ear infection (otitus media).

A sensorineural hearing loss results from damage to the inner ear (cochlea) or the auditory nerve.

Hip Dysplasia:

Hip Dysplasia is a condition when the bones of the hip joint are not aligned correctly. It affects thousands of children and adults each year and is known by many different names: Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip (DDH), Hip Dislocation, Congenital Dislocation of the Hip (CDH), Loose Hips.

Hip Dysplasia prevents the hip joint from functioning properly and the joint wears out much faster than normal.

Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis:

Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, also known as juvenile idiopathic arthritis, is the most common type of arthritis in children under the age of 16. Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis causes persistent joint pain, swelling and stiffness. Some children may experience symptoms for only a few months, while others have symptoms for the rest of their lives.

Language Delay or Disorder:

Receptive language, or language comprehension, refers to how well someone understands what is being said to them.

Expressive language refers to how someone uses words or sentences to express themselves, and their use of appropriate grammar and sentence structure.

A language delay or disorder refers to any kind of difficulty or delay in how words and/or sentence are understood or used.

Muscular Dystrophy:

Muscular Dystrophy is a disorder that causes progressive weakness and atrophy and loss of function. Common signs include poor balance with frequent falls, difficulty walking, limited range of motion/movement and drooping eyelids.

Osteogenesis Imperfecta:

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a genetic disorder that causes a person's bones to break easily, often from little or no apparent trauma. OI is also called "brittle bone disease."

Plagiocephaly:

Positional plagiocephaly, is a means a misshapen or uneven (asymmetrical) head shape.

Positional plagiocephaly does not affect the development of a baby’s brain but can be a symptom of another underlying gross motor problem.

Prematurity:

Prematurity is a term for the broad category of neonates born at less than 37 weeks gestation.

Speech Disorder:

This refers to any difficulty that affects how speech sounds are made, or how well the speaker can be understood by others. It may include articulation difficulties, apraxia, phonological disorder, etc.

Spina Bifida:

Is a type of birth defect called a neural tube defect. It occurs when the bones of the spine (vertebrae) don`t form properly around part of the baby`s spinal cord. Spina bifida can be mild or severe.

Syndromes:

Any combination of signs and/or symptoms that are indicative of a particular disease or disorder.

Torticollis:

Congenital Muscular Toricollis is a condition in which a neck muscle (called the sternodeidomastorid muscle) is shorter on one side of the neck than the other.

Visual Impairment:

Visual impairment is a term experts use to describe any kind of vision loss, whether it's someone who cannot see at all or someone who has partial vision loss.

Voice Disorder:

Anything that causes the voice to sound unusual.

Voice disorders fall into three main categories: Organic, functional, or a combination of the two. Organic voice disorders fall into two groups: structural and neuogenic. Structural disorders involved something physically wrong with the mechanism, often involving tissue or fluids of the vocal folds.

Neurogenic disorders are caused by a problem in the nervous system. A functional disorder means the physical structure is normal, but the vocal mechanism is being used improperly or inefficiently.

The most common voice problems in preschool children are related to cleft lip or palate, or vocal abuse caused by using an excessive loud voice (usually sounds like chronic hoarseness).

ACRONYMS

ABA: 

Applied Behaviour Analysis

ADT:

Autism Diagnostic Team

BA:

Behaviour Assistant

CARF:

Commission on Accreditation on Rehabilitation Facilities

CB:

Complex Behaviour

CCA:

Child Care Assistant

CDBC:

Complex Developmental Behavioural Conditions

CTFRC:

Children's Therapy & Family Resource Centre

DPT:

Diphtheria, Pertusis, Tetnus (Cavvination)

EAI:

Extended Autisim Intervention

ECE:

Early Childhood Educator

EIP:

Early Intervention Program

FSC:

Family Support Consultant

GP:

General Practicitioner

IC:

Initial Consultation

ICS:

Interior Community Services

IDP:

Infant Development Program

IEP:

Individual Education Plan

IFM:

Initial Family Meeting

IFSP:

Individual Family Service Plan

IHCAN:

Interior Health Children's Assessment Network 

KIDS:

Kamloops Infant Development Program

LAT:

Learning Assistance Teacher

LRT:

Learning Resource Teacher

MCFD:

Ministry of Children & Family Development

MMR:

Measles, Mumps, Rubell (Vaccination)

NLD:

Non-verbal Learning Disorder

OCD:

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

OT:

Occupational Therapy

PT:

Physiotherapy

RDI:

Relationship Development Intervention

SCD:

Supported Child Development

SI:

Sensory Intergration

SLP:

Speech Language Pathology

STP:

School Therapy Program

SSW:

School Support Worker

TNFRS:

Thompson Nicola Family Resource Society