What does all of this mean?!

Neurodivergent - Someone whose Neurotype (the way their brain is) is different from the majority of the population.

Neurotypical - Someone whose Neurotype (the way their brain is) is the same as the majority of the population.

Neurodiverse/Neurodiversity - The various different ways brains behave in a population, making up a balanced society. Think of the term “Biodiversity”- Lots of different living organisms creating a perfectly balanced ecosystem! (Thank you Judy Singer (1997) for creating and explaining this!)

Expressive Communication - The various ways we express thoughts, feelings and ideas. This might involve talking, texting/emailing, sending emojis, facial expressions.

Receptive Communication - The different ways we receive thoughts, feelings and ideas. We might listen to people talking or vocalising, read and understand that information, follow instructions, react to people calling our name, or point to an object when asked.

Articulation - The way the lips, teeth and tongue move to produce sounds.

Phonology - How the brain organises the rules of speech sounds. A disorder or delay in this aspect of speech and language might sound like a person making a /t/ sound when they mean a /k/ sound, such as “tat” for “cat”, or missing out sounds, such as saying “boo” when they mean “blue”.

Speech - How sounds are produced by your vocal cords and mouth to produce words.

Language - The words and grammar we use in speech to communicate ideas, thoughts and feelings.

Disorder - A communication difficulty that can lead to communication breakdown, caused by a mismatch in talking styles. “Disorder” is the medical term, so you might see it in reports or when talking about diagnoses. A “disorder” refers to a difference in something, maybe articulation differences, social communication differences, or language differences.

Delay - A slower way of developing than the average person. A person with a delay is developing typically, but at a slower rate than their parents might have originally expected.

Let us know if you have any ideas to expand our dictionary! 🌻

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