Autism & ABA Glossary
- AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication)
Any tool that supports or replaces speech: picture cards, sign language, or a tablet that speaks when tapped. Real communication that lets a child be heard while spoken language develops, or instead of it.
- ABC Data (Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence)
A simple way ABA teams record behavior: what happened just before (antecedent), what the child did (behavior), and what happened right after (consequence). It reveals the patterns behind a behavior.
- Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
A therapy approach that teaches communication, daily living, and learning skills by breaking them into small, learnable steps and reinforcing progress. The standard of care funded by Minnesota's EIDBI benefit.
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
A developmental difference in how a person communicates, interacts socially, and experiences the world. A spectrum: every autistic child has their own profile of strengths and support needs.
- Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP)
The written game plan a BCBA builds from an FBA: how the team will prevent a challenging behavior, what skill will replace it, and how everyone responds consistently.
- Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA)
A clinician with graduate-level training and national certification in behavior analysis. The BCBA designs your child's treatment plan and supervises every session.
- CMDE (Comprehensive Multi-Disciplinary Evaluation)
The structured evaluation Minnesota requires before a child can receive EIDBI-funded therapy. It confirms a diagnosis and documents that treatment is medically necessary.
- Discrete Trial Training (DTT)
A structured ABA teaching method that breaks a skill into short, clear teaching moments: an instruction, the child's response, and immediate feedback, repeated with variation.
- Echolalia
Repeating words, phrases, or whole lines from shows or other people, either right away or later. Common in autistic children and often a meaningful step toward flexible language, not just 'parroting.'
- EIDBI (Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention)
Minnesota's Medicaid benefit that pays for intensive therapy, including ABA, for children and young adults under 21 with autism or related conditions. Not a therapy type; a funding source.
- Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA)
The process a BCBA uses to figure out why a behavior is happening, not just what it looks like, by gathering data on what comes before and after it. The starting point for any behavior plan.
- Functional Communication Training (FCT)
Teaching a child a clear, workable way to ask for what a challenging behavior was already trying to get, like a word, sign, or picture for 'break' or 'help.' One of ABA's most effective tools.
- Generalization
When a skill learned in one place, with one person, works everywhere: at home, at the park, with grandma. The real goal of any therapy program.
- Help Me Grow (Minnesota)
Minnesota's free early-childhood referral system. Any parent worried about a child's development from birth to age five can request a no-cost evaluation through the local school district.
- IEP (Individualized Education Program)
The legal document a public school creates for a student who qualifies for special education: goals, services, and accommodations. A school plan, separate from medical therapy like ABA.
- IFSP (Individualized Family Service Plan)
The early-intervention plan for children under three in Minnesota. Like an IEP but for babies and toddlers, and built around the whole family's needs, not just the child's. Comes before the school-age IEP.
- ITP (Individual Treatment Plan)
The written plan a BCBA creates for your child: specific goals, the strategies the team will use, and the number of therapy hours per week. EIDBI authorizations are based on it.
- Mand (Requesting)
The ABA term for a request: asking for something you want or need, by speech, sign, picture, or device. Often the very first communication skill a program builds, because it pays off instantly.
- Medical Assistance (MA)
Minnesota's Medicaid program, and the coverage behind the EIDBI benefit. It reaches families directly through the state (Straight MA) or through a health plan (PMAP).
- Medical Necessity
The standard a child's care has to meet to be covered: services that are reasonable and needed to treat a diagnosed condition. The CMDE and treatment plan are what document it for EIDBI.
- Natural Environment Teaching (NET)
An ABA teaching method that builds skills inside play and everyday routines, following the child's interests instead of a tabletop drill.
- Neurodiversity
The idea that brain differences like autism are a natural part of human variation, not defects to be cured. An affirming program builds on a child's strengths instead of trying to erase the difference.
- Parent and Caregiver Training
Coaching that teaches families the same strategies the therapy team uses, so progress continues at home. A required, funded part of EIDBI, and often what makes skills actually stick.
- Prompting
The help a therapist gives so a child can succeed at a new skill, from a full hand-over-hand guide to a small gesture, faded out as the child becomes independent.
- QSP (Qualified Supervising Professional)
The clinician Minnesota's EIDBI benefit requires to supervise a child's therapy. Often a BCBA or licensed professional, the QSP oversees the treatment plan and the providers who deliver sessions.
- Registered Behavior Technician (RBT)
A trained, certified therapist who delivers your child's one-on-one ABA sessions under the supervision of a BCBA.
- Reinforcement
Anything that follows a behavior and makes it more likely to happen again, like praise, a favorite activity, or a high five. The engine of ABA teaching.
- Sensory Processing
How the brain takes in and responds to sound, touch, light, movement, and other input. Many autistic children are more or less sensitive to these, which shapes how they feel and behave.
- Stimming (Self-Stimulatory Behavior)
Repetitive movements or sounds, like hand-flapping, rocking, or repeating a word, that many autistic people use to self-regulate, focus, or express emotion. Usually helpful and not something to erase.
- Task Analysis & Chaining
Breaking a multi-step skill like handwashing or getting dressed into small steps (task analysis), then teaching the steps in sequence (chaining) until the child does the whole routine independently.
- TEFRA (MA TEFRA option)
A Minnesota Medical Assistance option that lets a child with a disability qualify for MA based on the child's own needs, even when family income is too high for regular MA. Sometimes called Katie Beckett.
Vocabulary is the easy part. The next step is a conversation.
If these terms are entering your life right now, our intake team speaks both languages: the acronyms and the plain English. Start with the full ABA guide, or start intake and ask us anything directly.