Glossary of Terms
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
American Sign Language (ASL) - A complete, complex language, that uses signs made by the hands along with facial expressions and postures of the body to communicate.
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) - The professional, scientific, and credentialing association for audiologists and speech-language pathologists.
Analogy - A relationship between one pair of words that serves as the basis for the creation of another pair of words. (e.g. open:close::start:stop- Read “Open is to close as start is to stop.”) Some common analogy relationship types are rhyming, synonym, antonym, and parts of a whole.
Antonym - A word that means the opposite of another word. (e.g. “Day” is the antonym of “night”).
Apraxia - A disorder involving voluntary, but not involuntary, speech movements. For example, a person with apraxia may not be able to respond correctly when asked to touch the lip with the tongue, but when eating may lick a crumb from the lip.
Articulation - The process of articulators moving to produce the sounds of speech.
Articulators - Part of the vocal organs that help form speech sounds such as lips, tongue, teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate, and pharynx.
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)/ Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - A condition characterized by hyperactivity, an inability to concentrate, and often impulsive or inappropriate behavior.
Auditory-Visual-Kinesthetic (AVK) - Three types of learning styles (hearing, sight, and feel), one of which is usually a primary style of learning. Using all three (AVK) at the same time while teaching and learning allows all sensory pathways to be used and results in better retention of information.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) - A system composed of aids, symbols, techniques, and strategies used by individuals to enhance their ability to communicate with others effectively.
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) - Also known as Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDDs). A range of disorders, usually first diagnosed in early childhood, that cause severe and pervasive impairment in language, thinking, feeling, and the ability to relate to others. Asperger syndrome is a more mild form, whereas autistic disorder is a more severe form.
Babble - A pre-speech vocalization in which repetitions of syllables dominate. For example, “bababa” and “dadada”.
Baby Sign Language - Sign language (usually ASL) being used with babies and toddlers to encourage communication, especially before speech is able to be produced.
Blends - Consonant clusters.
Closed Syllable - A one syllable word ending in at least one consonant sound, and the vowel is short. (e.g. rab-bit, mag-net : both words consist of 2 closed syllables)
Coarticulation - The idea that sounds are blended together during speech production.
Cochlear implant - A small, complex electronic device with an external portion that sits behind the ear and an internal portion that is surgically placed under the skin, which can help provide a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard-of-hearing.
Communication - The exchange of thoughts, messages, or information by mode of speech, writing, signals, or behavior.
Communication board - An Augmentative Communication device that displays the alphabet, pictures, common phrases, and/or responses that a person may use to communicate when he needs or has the opportunity to use it.
Comprehension - Grasping the meaning of something, such as a particular concept (reading, mathematics, verbal, and auditory are types of comprehension).
Consonant - A sound made with marked constriction somewhere along the vocal tract.
Consonant cluster - Two or more consonants occurring within the same syllable in which the sequence of consonants is uninterrupted by vowels. For example, word beginnings sk-, sm, st-, str- spl- and word endings
Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) - One of the most common sequences of sounds found in syllables. (e.g.- cat, bed, hit, dog, cut).
Cooing - Pre-speech vocalizations that consist largely of vowel sounds that express pleasure and contentment. (e.g.- “Oooooo!” and “Aaaaaaa.”)
Critical thinking skills - A way of thinking about any problem or subject in which the person evaluates the information and uses such conclusions to guide future behavior.
Deaf - A hearing impairment or loss resulting in the full or partial decrease in the ability to detect or understand sounds in the environment.
Developmental milestone - A developmental goal for certain tasks most children learn, that is used as a measurement of developmental progress over time. (e.g.- sitting, walking, using two word phrases).
Digraph - A pair of letters representing a single speech sound (e.g.- /sh/, /ch/, /th/, /ng/).
Dominant hand - The hand used most often because it is usually stronger and more coordinated than the non-dominant hand. (e.g.- dominant hand for writing, dominant hand when signing).
Dysarthria - A group of speech disorders that are neurologic in origin (damage to central or peripheral nervous system) resulting in disturbances of muscular control that may affect the speed, strength, timing, or accuracy of speech movements.
Dysgraphia - (or agraphia) A disorder that affects a person’s mechanical ability to write, regardless of his intellect or ability to read.
Dyslexia - A learning disability where a person’s ability to read and write is much lower than would be expected for someone of that person’s intelligence.
Expressive language - The process of formulating and sending a message to communicate one’s ideas, desires, or intentions to others. (e.g.- speech, sign language, gestures, pointing to pictures on a communication board, and writing).
Final sound - The last sound at the end of a word. (e.g.- The final sound in “basketball” is the /l/ sound).
Fine motor movement - Small movements of the hands, wrists, fingers, feet, toes, lips, and tongue. (e.g.- using the lips and tongue for eating or speech; grasping an object between the thumb and finger like writing or tying shoes).
Fry’s Word List - Edward Fry’s list of the most frequently used words for reading and writing in English, ranked in order. The first 25 words make up about 1/3 of all printed material in English. The first 100 make up about ½ of all written material, and the first 300 make up about 65% of all written material in English. Fry’s List is usually used as a list of sight words for students to learn.
Grammar - The branch of linguistics that deals with the rules governing the use of any natural language, including syntax and morphology.
Grapheme - A fundamental symbol in written language used to represent speech. (e.g.- letters of the alphabet, although some graphemes like “sh” represent a single phoneme).
Gross motor movement - Movements that involve large muscle groups and are generally more broad such as walking, jumping, and kicking.
Handshape - When doing sign language, the shape a hand takes while making a sign. (e.g.- “C”-handshape, “Flattened O” handshape, “Closed 5″ handshape). Some ASL signs use more than one handshape at a time, or a sign may begin with one handshape and end with another.
Hard of hearing - A term used to describe a degree of hearing loss ranging from mild to profound, decreasing a person’s ability to detect or understand sounds.
Hearing aid - An electronic device worn behind or in the ear used for amplifying and shaping sound waves entering the external auditory canal.
Homonym - Words with the same spelling or sound but with different meanings. (e.g. “blue” and “blew”, or verb and noun “sow”.)
Homophone - A word that is pronounced the same as another word or words, but is different in meaning. (e.g. “to”, “too”, and “two”).
Idiom - An expression used in language whose meaning cannot be deduced from the actual meaning of its words (e.g. “It’s raining cats and dogs.” or “let the cat out of the bag”).
Inflection - A change in the pitch or tone of the voice (e.g. we change our inflection when asking a question by raising our pitch at the end).
Initial sound - The first sound produced in a word.
Intonation - The rise and fall in the pitch of a voice when speaking that contributes to the meanings of spoken phrases and sentences. (e.g.- “Get down!” and “Get down?”).
Language development - The acquisition of language though the gradual expansion in complexity and meaning of symbols and sounds perceived and understood by the individual.
Larynx - The cartilaginous structure at the top of the trachea that contains the vocal cords and is responsible for voice production. Commonly referred to as the “voice box”.
Learning disorders - A group of disorders found in children of normal intelligence, characterized by difficulty in learning specific academic and functional skills. (e.g.- Speaking, reading, writing, listening, spelling, reasoning, and organizing information).
Literacy - The ability to read, spell, and communicate through written language.
Long vowels - The sounds vowels make when they “say their name”, although there may be multiple ways of spelling the vowel sound. (e.g. long “a”- “a” + magic “e”, ai, ay)
Medial sound - A sound found in the middle of a word.
Multisyllabic - A word that can be broken into more than one syllable.
Non-verbal communication - The use of gesture, body language, posture, facial expression, tone of voice, and eye contact as a means of communicating. It can account for up to as much as 93% of the message one is conveying, whereas words convey only 7%!
Non-verbal cue - A type of receptive communication using gesture, body language, posture, facial expression, tone of voice, and/or eye contact to convey a message. (e.g.- When a child is climbing on the table, rather than using words the parent may use a non-verbal cue such as the “evil eye” or pointing to the floor to communicate he must get down.)
Occupational Therapist (OT) - Person in the health profession whose goal is to help people achieve independence, meaning, and satisfaction in all aspects of their lives. OTs help children and adults with life skills so they are able to function in their environment.
Open syllable - A syllable ending in one vowel, which is usually long (e.g.- ba-by, i-tem: the first syllable is open for both words)
Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDDs) - See Autism Spectrum Disorders.
