Alphabetic List of Interventions, Treatments and Therapies

Advancing Social-Communication and Play (ASAP) is an intervention designed help preschool children with autism learn and practice joint attention and play in a peer-led programme run in mainstream schools.

Advocacy means taking action to help people say what they want, secure their rights, represent their interests and obtain services they need.

AEDs is an acronym for antiepileptic drugs - which is another term for anticonvulsants - a group of drugs designed to prevent or reduce the severity of fits (convulsions) in various types of epilepsy.

Aerobics is a form of physical exercise that combines rhythmic aerobic exercise with stretching and strength training routines in order to improve an individual's fitness.

Affective Atunement is another term for holding therapy, an intervention which consists of forced holding by a therapist or parent until the child stops resisting or until a fixed time period has elapsed

Aided language modelling is an intervention which consists of engaging the child in interactive play activities and providing models of use of augmentative and alternative communication symbols during play.

Aided language stimulation is the term used for interventions designed to teach language and communication skills using alternative and augmentative modelling.

AIT is an acronym for auditory integration training, an intervention in which a person with autism listens to a selection of music which has been modified.

AIT Plus is a form of therapy which combines AIT with light therapy and sound modulation.

An aldosterone antagonist is a compound that blocks the action of aldosterone, a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands that is important for maintaining salt and water balance in the body.

The Alert Program is an intervention based around teaching to self-regulate their level of alertness so that they can respond appropriately to a variety of situations.

The allergy-free diet requires you to avoid any foodstuffs, such as peanuts, which are known to cause you allergies.

Allopathy is another term for standard health care or conventional medicine, the medicine practiced by doctors and by allied health professionals (such as nurses, occupational therapists etc) which is based on sound scientific evidence.

ALM is an acronym for aided language modelling, an intervention which consists of engaging the child in interactive play activities and providing models of use of augmentative and alternative communication symbols during play.

Alpha blockers is another name for α-adrenergic-antagonists, a type of drug called adrenergic antagonists.

Alternative communication systems are designed to replace standard means of communication.

Amantadine is a type of medication called an NMDA receptor antagonist.

Ambient prism lenses are used to help improve ambient vision, the visual system related to spatial organisation.

American sign language is the sign language used by the deaf community and others in many parts of North America.

Amino acids are organic compounds that combine to form proteins, the basic building blocks for life.