Co-Occurring & Related Terms

Anxiety is a feeling of fear, worry, or distress that can affect thoughts, body signals, sleep, behaviour, learning, and daily routines. Autistic children may experience anxiety related to uncertainty, sensory overload, social demands, transitions, communication challenges, or past stressful experiences.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, is a neurodevelopmental condition that can affect attention, impulse control, activity level, emotional regulation, organization, and executive functioning. Autism and ADHD can co-occur, and many children benefit from supports that consider both profiles.

Auditory Processing Disorder, or APD, affects how the brain interprets sounds, even when hearing itself is typical. A child with APD may struggle to follow spoken instructions, understand speech in noisy places, or tell similar-sounding words apart. APD can look a lot like attention or language difficulties, so a thorough assessment by an audiologist is usually the starting point.

Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, or ARFID, is an eating condition where a child's intake of food is significantly limited — not because of body image concerns, but due to sensory sensitivities, fear of choking or vomiting, or simply a lack of interest in eating. This limited intake can affect a child's nutrition, growth, energy levels, and ability to take part in everyday social situations like school lunches or family dinners. ARFID is more common among autistic children and children with sensory differences, though it can occur in any child.

Childhood Apraxia of Speech, or CAS, is a motor speech condition where a child's brain has difficulty sending the right signals to the muscles used for speaking, even though those muscles themselves are not weak. Children with CAS may know exactly what they want to say but find it hard to get the sounds and syllables to come out consistently and clearly. CAS can occur on its own or alongside other conditions, including autism, and is something a speech-language pathologist is trained to identify and support.

Constipation means that a child's bowel movements are infrequent, hard to pass, uncomfortable, or feel incomplete. It is one of the most common gastrointestinal concerns seen in autistic children, and can be related to diet, limited food variety, sensory sensitivities around toileting, reduced physical activity, or other factors. Constipation that goes on for a while can cause real discomfort and may sometimes affect a child's mood, sleep, and behaviour.

Depression is a mental health condition that goes beyond everyday sadness — it can affect a child's or youth's mood, energy levels, sleep, appetite, concentration, sense of self-worth, and ability to enjoy activities they once loved. It can look different in children than in adults, and in autistic children it may show up as increased withdrawal, more intense distress, changes in behaviour, or a loss of interest in things they care about. Depression is common among autistic youth, and it is very much worth paying attention to alongside any other supports your child receives.

Developmental Coordination Disorder, or DCD, is a recognised neurodevelopmental condition where a child's motor coordination is significantly below what would be expected for their age, in ways that affect daily life. It can show up as difficulty with balance, catching a ball, handwriting, getting dressed, or learning new physical skills, even when the child is trying hard. DCD frequently co-occurs with autism and ADHD, and an occupational therapist or physiotherapist can help identify it and put supportive strategies in place.

Developmental Language Disorder, or DLD, affects a child’s ability to understand and/or use language. It can affect vocabulary, grammar, conversation, storytelling, following directions, learning, and social participation.

Dyspraxia describes difficulty planning, organising, and carrying out coordinated movements, even when a child understands what they want to do. It can affect everything from tying shoelaces and using utensils to playing on the playground or completing tasks at school. Dyspraxia is sometimes used interchangeably with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), though the terms have slightly different histories and uses depending on the professional or setting.

Epilepsy is a neurological condition where a child experiences recurrent seizures, which happen because of sudden bursts of electrical activity in the brain. Seizures can look very different from child to child — some involve shaking or loss of consciousness, while others may look like brief staring spells or subtle changes in awareness. Epilepsy is more common among autistic children than in the general population, so families and support teams may keep it in mind as part of an overall health picture.

Feeding difficulties can include a wide range of mealtime challenges such as eating only a very limited variety of foods, strong reactions to textures, smells, or colours, gagging, difficulty chewing, slow eating, food refusal, or concerns about getting enough nutrition. These experiences are common among autistic children and can make everyday meals feel stressful for the whole family. Understanding what is behind the challenge — whether sensory, motor, or anxiety-related — is a helpful first step toward finding the right support.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, or FASD, is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disability that can occur when a person is exposed to alcohol before birth. It can affect memory, attention, communication, learning, social understanding, and daily living skills in ways that are unique to each individual. FASD looks different in every child, and many families find that understanding the brain-based nature of FASD helps them advocate more effectively for the right supports.

Fragile X Syndrome is the most common inherited genetic cause of intellectual and developmental disability, and it can affect development, learning, communication, behaviour, sensory processing, and intellectual functioning in a range of ways. It is caused by a change in a gene on the X chromosome, and it can run in families, which is why genetic counselling is often recommended after a diagnosis. Many children with Fragile X also meet criteria for autism, and understanding both conditions together helps families access the most relevant support.

Gastrointestinal issues refer to problems with the digestive system, such as constipation, diarrhea, stomach pain, reflux, nausea, bloating, or difficulty tolerating certain foods. These concerns are reported more frequently in autistic children than in the general population, though the reasons for this connection are still being studied. Because some autistic children may have difficulty communicating physical discomfort, gastrointestinal issues can sometimes show up as changes in behaviour, mood, or sleep.

Generalized anxiety, sometimes called GAD, involves a pattern of frequent or ongoing worry that can touch many different areas of a child's life, such as school performance, health, family situations, safety, or daily routines. Unlike worry that is tied to one specific thing, generalized anxiety tends to shift from topic to topic and can feel hard for a child to turn off or set aside. For autistic children, generalized anxiety may sometimes be connected to uncertainty, changes in routine, or sensory experiences, and it can affect sleep, focus, and how a child copes day to day.

Gifted and autistic describes a child who has advanced abilities, deep or intense interests, strong reasoning, or high potential in one or more areas, while also having autistic support needs in areas like social communication, sensory processing, or executive functioning. This combination is more common than many families realize, and it can mean a child's autistic traits are overlooked because of their intellectual strengths, or that their gifts go unrecognized because attention focuses on their challenges. Seeing the whole child — both their capabilities and their support needs — is at the heart of good advocacy.

Intellectual disability involves significant differences in intellectual functioning and adaptive functioning that begin during development. Some autistic children also have an intellectual disability, while many do not.

Language delay means a child is taking longer than expected to understand or use language. It can affect comprehension, vocabulary, sentence use, communication functions, and participation in daily routines.

A learning disability affects how a child takes in, processes, remembers, or expresses information, even when they have the ability to learn. It can affect reading, writing, math, language, organization, memory, or processing speed.

Nonverbal Learning Disability, or NVLD, is a learning profile where a child often shows strong verbal and memory skills but may find it harder to interpret visual-spatial information, coordinate movement, understand social cues, work with math concepts, or adjust to new or unstructured situations. NVLD is not a formal diagnostic category in all classification systems, but it is a recognized and meaningful way to describe how some children learn and experience the world. It can sometimes overlap with autism or attention differences, which is why a thorough assessment can be so helpful.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, or OCD, is a mental health condition where a person experiences intrusive, unwanted thoughts, images, or urges (obsessions) that cause distress, and feels driven to do certain actions or mental rituals (compulsions) to ease that distress. OCD is not about being tidy or particular — the thoughts and rituals can feel overwhelming and hard to control. For autistic children and youth, OCD can sometimes look similar to repetitive or ritualistic behaviours, which is why a careful assessment by a qualified professional matters.

Selective mutism is an anxiety-related condition where a child is consistently unable to speak in certain settings or with certain people — such as at school or with unfamiliar adults — even though they speak comfortably in other situations, like at home with family. It is not stubbornness or shyness; the child genuinely finds speaking in those moments overwhelming. Selective mutism can occur alongside autism, and understanding both together can help families and educators find the right supports.

Sensory Processing Disorder is a term some families and providers use to describe significant differences in how a child responds to sensory input. Although terminology varies across systems, sensory processing needs can be very real and may be supported by occupational therapy and environmental accommodations.

A sleep disorder affects a child's ability to fall asleep, stay asleep, wake at expected times, or get sleep that truly feels restful. Sleep challenges are very common among autistic children and can be related to sensory sensitivities, anxiety, differences in melatonin production, or other factors. When sleep is disrupted night after night, it can affect a child's mood, learning, behaviour, and overall health — and the wellbeing of the whole family.

Social anxiety is an intense feeling of worry or distress that comes up in social situations, often tied to fears around being judged, making mistakes, feeling embarrassed, or not knowing what to expect from others. For autistic children, social anxiety may show up as avoiding social gatherings, becoming overwhelmed before or after interactions, or needing a lot of reassurance in new or unpredictable social settings. Social anxiety is different from shyness — it can genuinely get in the way of a child's ability to connect with others, participate in school, or enjoy everyday activities.

Speech delay means a child’s spoken speech is developing later than expected. It may involve limited words, unclear sounds, difficulty combining words, or reduced speech, and it can have many causes.

Tics are sudden, brief, repeated movements or sounds that can be difficult or impossible for a person to control, such as eye blinking, shoulder shrugging, throat clearing, or sniffing. They often increase during times of stress, excitement, or fatigue, and may come and go over time. Tics are more common in autistic children and children with ADHD, though they can occur in any child and range from very mild to more noticeable.

Tourette Syndrome is a neurological condition where a person experiences both motor tics (movements) and vocal tics (sounds) that have been present for more than a year. It is more common in boys than girls and often first appears in childhood. Tourette Syndrome frequently co-occurs with ADHD, OCD, anxiety, and autism, and the experience can vary a great deal from one person to another.

Twice exceptional, or 2e, describes a child who has advanced abilities, strong intellectual gifts, or high potential in one or more areas, and who also has a disability or learning difference such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, or anxiety. The combination can make 2e children tricky to support well, because their gifts can mask their challenges and their challenges can mask their gifts. Many 2e children thrive when their strengths are genuinely celebrated alongside the targeted support they need.