We’ve created this glossary to help make things clearer and easier to understand.
Some of the language used in assessments, reports, and therapy can feel unfamiliar, so you can use this page to quickly look up words, better understand your child’s support journey, and feel more confident when reading information or speaking with our team.
AHPRA is the organisation responsible for registering and regulating many health professionals in Australia, including occupational therapists and psychologists. Registration helps ensure practitioners meet national standards for qualifications, professional conduct, and ongoing development.
Attention is the ability to focus on a task, activity, or conversation. Children develop attention skills at different rates and in different ways. Strong attention skills support learning, participation, and everyday activities.
A structured process used by therapists to understand a child’s strengths, challenges, and developmental needs. This may include observation, play-based activities, questionnaires, and standardised tools. It helps guide recommendations and support, not just diagnose problems.
Behaviour is one of the many ways children communicate their needs, feelings, interests, and experiences. Understanding the reasons behind behaviour can help adults provide the right support and create positive opportunities for growth.
A state of emotional, mental, or physical exhaustion. In children, this can look like shutdowns, meltdowns, or withdrawal. In parents, it can feel like constant stress, overwhelm, and decision fatigue from managing their child’s needs.
Capacity building focuses on developing a child’s skills, confidence, and independence so they can participate more fully in everyday life. It also involves supporting families, educators, and carers with the knowledge and strategies they need to help children achieve their goals.
How a child understands and expresses themselves. This includes speech, language, gestures, behaviour, and social interaction.
Confidence is a child’s belief in their own abilities and willingness to try new things. It develops through positive experiences, supportive relationships, and opportunities to learn and grow.
Co-regulation is the process of supporting a child through emotions and experiences by providing calm, responsive guidance. Through co-regulation, children gradually develop the skills and confidence to manage their emotions independently.
Developmental delay describes when a child is developing skills at a different pace to their peers in one or more areas, such as communication, movement, learning, or social interaction. With the right support, children can continue building skills and confidence in ways that suit their individual strengths and needs.
A diagnosis is a way of identifying and understanding how a person experiences and interacts with the world. For some families, a diagnosis can help access services, supports, and information that promote participation, learning, and wellbeing.
Support provided early in a child’s development to help them build key skills before challenges become more significant. Early intervention can improve long-term outcomes in learning, communication, behaviour, and emotional wellbeing.
Emotional regulation is the ability to recognise, understand, and manage emotions in different situations. Like any skill, emotional regulation develops over time and can be strengthened through supportive relationships and practice.
Support provided early in a child’s development to help them build key skills before challenges become more significant. Early intervention can improve long-term outcomes in learning, communication, behaviour, and emotional wellbeing.
Functional skills are the everyday skills people use to participate in home, school, and community life. These might include communicating needs, managing routines, playing with others, getting dressed, following instructions, or completing school tasks. Developing functional skills helps children become more independent and confident in their daily activities.
Independence is a child’s ability to complete tasks, make choices, and participate in daily activities with increasing confidence and autonomy. Independence develops gradually over time and looks different for every child based on their age, strengths, and individual needs.
Therapy or intervention that is tailored specifically to a child’s unique strengths, needs, and goals, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
Integrated therapy is a collaborative approach where different therapy disciplines – such as occupational therapy, speech pathology, and psychology – work together to support a child’s development in a connected and coordinated way.
Rather than working in isolation, therapists share goals, strategies, and insights so support feels consistent across all areas of a child’s life.
Learning difficulties refer to differences in how a child processes, understands, or uses information. With the right supports and strategies, children can develop skills, build confidence, and achieve meaningful learning outcomes.
Learning delay describes when a child is developing learning skills at a slower pace to what is typically expected for their age. Identifying learning needs early can help children access support that builds on their strengths and encourages continued progress.
Milestones are developmental markers that help track how children are growing and learning over time. Every child develops at their own pace, and milestones can provide a helpful guide to understanding their progress and identifying opportunities for support when needed.
The idea that children’s brains develop and function in different ways. This includes conditions like autism and ADHD, as well as natural variations in attention, learning, and behaviour.
Occupational therapy helps children develop the skills they need to participate in everyday activities that are important to them. This may include skills related to play, learning, self-care, emotional regulation, social participation, motor development, and independence. Occupational therapists work with children, families, and educators to support meaningful participation in daily life.
Participation refers to a child’s involvement in everyday activities at home, school, and in the community. This might include learning, playing, building friendships, joining group activities, or completing daily routines. Supporting participation helps children feel included, connected, and confident in the environments that matter most to them.
A therapy approach that uses play as the main way to build skills. It helps children feel safe and engaged while working on communication, emotional regulation, social skills, and learning.
Processing refers to how a child receives, understands, and responds to information. Children process information in different ways, and understanding their individual style can help identify strategies that support learning and participation.
Psychology focuses on understanding thoughts, emotions, behaviours, and wellbeing. Paediatric psychologists work with children, young people, and families to support emotional development, resilience, social relationships, confidence, and coping skills. They can also help children navigate challenges such as anxiety, emotional regulation, life transitions, and behavioural concerns.
See Emotional Regulation. Often used broadly to describe how well a child can manage their emotions, energy levels, attention, and behaviour in different environments.
School readiness refers to the range of skills that help children participate confidently in a school environment. These include communication, social interaction, emotional regulation, independence, and early learning skills. Every child brings their own strengths to the transition to school.
Self-advocacy is the ability to understand and communicate your needs, preferences, strengths, and goals. As children grow, self-advocacy skills help them build confidence, make decisions, ask for support when needed, and actively participate in matters that affect them.
Sensory processing is the way the brain receives, organises, and responds to information from the senses. Every child experiences sensory input differently, and understanding these preferences can help create environments where they feel comfortable, engaged, and ready to learn.
Social skills are the abilities that help children connect with others, build relationships, and participate in social situations. These skills develop over time through play, shared experiences, and supportive interactions.
Speech pathology supports communication, language, speech, literacy, and social interaction skills. Speech pathologists work with children to help them understand and express themselves, connect with others, build confidence in communication, and develop the skills needed for learning and participation in everyday life.
A strength-based approach focuses on recognising and building upon a child’s abilities, interests, and potential. Rather than concentrating solely on areas of difficulty, this approach supports children to develop skills, confidence, and independence by using their strengths as a foundation for growth.
Support provided by trained professionals to help children develop skills in areas such as communication, emotional regulation, motor skills, learning, and behaviour.
Transitions are the changes and new experiences children encounter as they move between activities, routines, environments, or stages of development. From starting kindy or school to moving between everyday tasks, transitions provide opportunities for children to build confidence, adaptability, and independence with the right support.
A waiting list is a system used by some services to manage referrals and appointments when demand exceeds immediate availability. Families on a waiting list are contacted as suitable appointment times become available.
Wellbeing refers to a person’s overall sense of health, happiness, connection, and quality of life. For children, wellbeing includes feeling safe, supported, valued, engaged, and able to participate in meaningful activities and relationships. Wellbeing is influenced by physical, emotional, social, and environmental factors.
