Glossary of Terms

An Assessment of Need (AON) is an assessment process that is set out in the Disability Act 2005. It is commonly called an AON. The assessment is carried out by the HSE for children or young people with a disability. The assessment identifies a child or young person's health needs and what health services are needed to meet their needs. The child or young person must be born on or after 1 June 2002.

The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act is a law that supports the rights of people with disabilities to make their own decisions. It applies to anyone 18 years and over.

Backward chaining means breaking down a task into small steps, and teaching the steps in reverse order. 

You complete all the steps except the last one. You get your child to practice the final step. Once your child can do the last step you complete all the steps except for the last two. For example, a parent/caregiver might complete steps 1-5 and the child would then complete step 6. When the child can complete step 6, they should then move onto completing steps 5 and 6. 

The aim of backward chaining is for the parent/caregiver to be doing less and less and the child to be grow more independent with the task. The child should always complete the final step of the task.

The way somebody acts, especially towards someone else.

CAMHS stands for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and is a service that provides assessment and treatment for young people and their families who are experiencing moderate to severe mental health difficulties.

While a broad range of services support the mental health of children and adolescents, the term ‘CAMHS’ is usually applied very specifically to services that provide specialist mental health treatment and care to young people up to 18 years of age through a multidisciplinary team.

To access a CAMHS service you need to be referred by your GP.

This is the team of health and social care professionals responsible for delivering children’s disability services to children with complex needs, arising from a disability, from birth to 18 years of age. Each CDNT covers a specific geographic area (catchment area). 

There are nine CHOs across Ireland and each CHO delivers primary and community-based healthcare services. CHO7 covers Dublin South, Kildare, and West Wicklow. 

A communication board is a board with pictures that can be used as a way to share messages. It is a form of Total Communication. This means that we use everything in our communication toolbox, including pictures, gestures, signs, and words, to get our message across. Communication boards are for everyone. 

A particular subject area a person is trained in, usually by studying the subject at college or university. For example, your doctor’s discipline is medicine.

Echolalia is when children repeat what another person has said.

Emotional regulation is a term used to explain how someone manages or controls their emotional responses to situations in a positive way.

These are meetings that are open to all families receiving services or waiting to receive services from their CDNT. They are an opportunity for families to come together to discuss general issues and ideas about children’s disability services in their area. They will take place at least twice a year. 

A family-centred approach is a way of working in partnership with families to better understand the family’s needs. It recognises parents and guardians as the experts on their child’s needs.

Fine motor skills are the small, precise movements we make with our hands, fingers, feet and toes. They involve co-ordinating muscles, joints, and nerves to make the movements necessary to complete a task. For example, doing up buttons, tying shoelaces, using cutlery, and so on.

Forward chaining means breaking down a task into small steps and teaching the steps in order.

Your child will complete the first step and then the parent/caregiver completes the remaining steps. When the child is fully comfortable with step 1, they should then progress onto completing steps 1 and 2. When the child is confident with completing steps 1 and 2, they should go on to complete steps 1, 2 and 3, until eventually they complete all the steps of the task. 

The aim of forward chaining is for the parent/caregiver to be doing less and less and the child to grow more independent with the task. 

Two people are elected to represent their CDNT at each family forum. These two elected family representatives join the CHO7 Family Representative Group, which meets to share feedback and ideas with each other and with the PDS Governance Group for CHO7.

This is someone's ability to perform activities of daily living according to their basic needs. 

The legal framework that sets guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information from individuals who live in the European Union.

An aim or desired result. It is a statement of what you want to achieve.

Gross motor skills are the big movements we make with the large muscles in our body – for example, our legs and arms. Walking and waving your arms are examples of gross motor skills.

Hand-over-hand assistance is where the adult places his or her hand on the child’s hand to guide them in completing a task. It is often used for teaching children how to acquire a skill, such as self-care skills, like holding a toothbrush or toileting. The goal of hand-over-hand assistance is to fade it out as the child develops a better grasp on the skill. 

HSCPs provide a range of services to support the development, health and wellbeing of the child. For example, these services would include occupational therapists, psychologists, physiotherapists, social workers, and speech and language therapists.

Your family and the Children's Disability Network Team (CDNT) you are linked to will agree on a plan for your child. This will be called an Individual Family Support Plan (IFSP). It will be based on your child’s and family's needs. The plan can be updated at any time to reflect changes needed. 

The IFSP is made in partnership by the child (as appropriate to their age), their family and the CDNT. It focuses on four key areas: priorities, goals, supports, and strategies.

The plan does not need to be written during a formal meeting between the family and the whole team. It can be developed and revised by the family and one or two team members during a CDNT appointment, home visit, online meeting, or phone conversation.

CDNTs work as interdisciplinary teams. This means that they work together and share information, decision-making, and goal-setting. They have common ways of working together and communicate with each other regularly to keep everyone up to date.

An intervention is any support provided by the CDNT to help a child achieve their IFSP goals.

Joint Attention involves two people having a shared focus on the same stimulus (something that encourages an activity or a reaction). This may be an object, sound, event or person. Joint attention can be achieved when the adult directs their child’s attention to the object by using verbal cues i.e. sounds and words and/or using non-verbal cues such as eye-gazing, pointing, showing. Joint attention skills underpin speech, language and communication development.

Lead agencies are the providers of disability services. They manage each of the CDNTs. The lead agency may be a HSE-funded non-statutory organisation or a CHO (Community Healthcare Organisation). 

Lámh is a manual, or ‘key word’ sign system used by children and adults with intellectual disability and communication needs in Ireland. 

Motor skills describe your body’s ability to manage how it moves its muscles in a coordinated way. There are two types of motor skills: gross and fine motor skills. Examples of gross motor skills would be a child holding their head up, crawling, or reaching. Fine motor skills would include being able to use a spoon or hold a pencil.

In healthcare, multidisciplinary teams are made up of different disciplines and each team member will independently treat the child focusing on the area they specialise in, for example, speech and language therapy or occupational therapy. The teams will have agreed policies and procedures for working together and for communication. They will work with the family and child to meet their identified needs using individual discipline care and support plans. When working together, they use a joint care and support plan.

The NCSE's service was designed to improve the co-ordination between the education and health sectors to provide supports for children with special educational needs. The NCSE's local service is delivered through a national network of Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs) who interact with parents and schools and liaise with the HSE in providing resources to support children with special educational needs.

Neurodiversity recognises that people experience and interact with the world around them in different ways; there is no one ‘right’ way of thinking, learning, and behaving. Everyone has a unique brain and different skills, needs and abilities. Differences are not viewed as deficits or failures.

Two or more people or groups working together on an activity or working together to reach a particular goal.

PDS is a national programme to ensure a unified approach across Ireland in the delivery of children's disability services. The project was established by the HSE and is being rolled out in partnership with voluntary organisations across Ireland, such as those in the CHO7 region, who provide the CDNT services in their area.

The PDS model of service is defined by 12 Key Principles which are:

1. Accessibility
2. Accountability (who is responsible or answerable)
3. Bio-psychosocial model (an approach that looks at three factors: 1. biological, such as genetics; 2. psychological, such as mood and behaviour; and 3. social, such as family)
4. Clinical governance and evidence-based model
5. Cultural competence
6. Early identification of need
7. Equity of access
8. Evaluation of outcomes
9. Family-centred practice
10. Inclusion
11. Interdisciplinary Team Approach (see page 5)
12. Staff are valued and respected.

You can read more about these Principles here.

A policy is a plan of action proposed or adopted by an organisation or person.

Primary Care is all of the health or social care services that you can find in your community, outside of hospital. It includes GPs, Public Health Nurses and a range of other services. They provide a single point of contact to the health system.

An agreed way to carry out an action.

Psychological formulation is a structured approach psychologists use to understand factors underlying a person’s challenges, issues or behaviours. Typically, psychological formulations take place after an assessment period, and will inform the recommendations made by the psychologist and any intervention that may follow.

The National Council for Special Education's local service is delivered through a national network of Special Educational Needs Organisers (SENOs). They work with parents and schools and liaise with the HSE in providing resources to support children with special educational needs. SENOs are local points of contact for parents, guardians and schools.

Sensorimotor skills are how the body receives sensory messages (vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch) and then gives a movement response (motor output).

Sensory processing describes the way the body receives and interprets information through our senses. 

This is a learning tool to explain to a person what is happening in a particular situation, and how they can deal with it. They will include text and images relevant to the situation, so the person can relate to them. For example, a child might benefit from a story about starting schoo so that they are prepared and know what to expect. 

Visual supports are photographs, symbols, pictures or objects used to help a child or young person understand spoken language. Using visual supports can reinforce what you are saying to them.