Glossary

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A

Autism spectrum disorder
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication, and behavioral challenges. People with ASD may communicate, interact, behave, and learn in different ways. Signs of ASD begin during early childhood and usually last throughout a person’s life (3).

C

Comprehensive developmental evaluation
A comprehensive developmental evaluation is a thorough review of how a child plays, learns, communicates, acts, and moves, and whether those characteristics have changed over time. A range of professionals can conduct developmental evaluations, including teachers, social workers, nurses, psychologists, doctors, physical therapists, and speech-language pathologists. Specialists, such as developmental pediatricians, often use the results of a developmental evaluation to determine if a child has ASD.

Community provider
A community provider is a medical or educational professional within the ADDM Network communities who works with children with developmental disabilities
(including psychologists, physicians, teachers, learning specialists, speech/language pathologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, nurses, social workers, and others).

COVID-19

COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) is a disease caused by a virus named SARS-CoV-2 that was first detected in 2019. It is very contagious and has spread around the world. COVID-19 most often causes respiratory symptoms that can feel much like a cold, the flu, or pneumonia.

D

Developmental delay
A developmental delay is a persistent delay experienced by a child in reaching one or more developmental milestones—how children grow, move, communicate, interact, learn, and play.

I

Intellectual disability
Intellectual disability (ID) means that a person has difficulties learning at an expected level and functioning in daily life. In this report, intellectual disability is measured by intelligence quotient (IQ) test scores of less than or equal to 70.

Borderline range Borderline range intellectual functioning means that a person has lower-than-average intelligence but does not have intellectual disability. In this report, borderline range is defined as IQ test scores of 71 to 85.

Average or above average intellectual ability means that a person can learn at an expected level and function in daily life. In this report, average or above-average intellectual ability is defined as IQ test scores of greater than 85.

P

Pandemic
An illness that spreads around the world.

Prevalence
Prevalence is a scientific term that describes the number of people with a disease or condition among a defined group at a specific period in time. Prevalence is usually expressed as a percentage or proportion of the defined group. The ADDM Network provides prevalence estimates every other year.

S

Social determinants of health
Social determinants of health (SDOH) are the nonmedical factors that influence health outcomes. They are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life. These forces and systems include economic policies and systems, development agendas, social norms, social policies, racism, climate change, and political systems. The CDC has adopted this SDOH definition from the World Health Organization.

Special education eligibility or classification
The specific eligibility for special education and related services at school under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. These categories include autism, deaf-blindness, developmental delay, emotional disturbance, hearing impairment, intellectual disability, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, specific learning disability, speech
or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, and visual impairment.

Surveillance (also known as tracking or monitoring)
In public health, surveillance is defined as the continuous, systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of health-related data.

V

Validated screening tool
A tool that has been tested to determine how good it is in screening for a particular situation. These screening tools are tested by comparing them to an already approved test (also known as a ‘gold standard’ test).