ADAPTIVE RESPONSE: An appropriate action in which the person reacts successfully to an environmental demand. Adaptive responses are driven and guided by good sensory integration, and they also further the sensory integrative process by building mastery and success and learning.

APRAXIA: A lack of praxis; a lack of motor planning based on inability to perceive touch pressure and proprioception.

AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM (ANS): The part of the brain and nerves that regulate vital functions such as blood pressure, heart rate, skin temperature, emotional stability, digestion, etc. Sensory integration impacts the ANS when it is disorganized and inefficient. Another way to say this is that sensory integration dysfunction can elicit stress reactions.