Definitions & Links

AGNOSIA:

Loss of comprehension of auditory, visual, or other sensations although the sensory sphere is intact; inability to recognize an object

APRAXIA OF SPEECH:

Neurologic speech disorder reflecting an impairment in the ability to plan or program sensorimotor commands necessary for directing movements of the articulators (i.e., A disconnect between the brain and mouth).

ASSIMILATION:

Sensory process of “taking in” or receiving information that is external to or within the self-system.

ARTICULATION DISORDER:

Impairment in the production of sounds in words (i.e., inability to produce specific sounds, substituting one sound for another)

ATAXIA:

Incoordination of voluntary muscle movements, particularly those used in reaching and walking.

ATROPHIC, ATROPHY:

Pertaining to a wasting of tissues, organs, or the entire body.

AUDITORY: 

Hearing

AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM (ANS):

Subdivision of the peripheral nervous system (part of the nervous system that lies outside of the spinal cord and brain). It is involved in “automatic” activities that are not normally under conscious control, for example digestion, breathing, control of blood pressure.

BODY SCHEME:

Perception of one’s physical self through proprioceptive and interoceptive sensations.

CVA:

Cerebral vascular accident; a lesion in the brain resulting in paralysis of contralateral side of the body.

DIPLEGIA:

Paralysis of similar parts on both sides of the body.

DYSKINESIA:

Impairment of voluntary movement

DYSPRAXIA:

Difficulty in performing purposeful voluntary movements, the nature and mechanism of which are understood in the absence of motor or sensory impairment.

EQUILIBRIUM REACTIONS:

Bodily reactions to retain state of balance in relation to gravity.

EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE DISORDER:

Impairment in using written or spoken language

FLACCID:

Relaxed; flabby; having defective or absent muscular tone.

FLUENCY DISORDER:

Includes stuttering and cluttering.  Stuttering is characterized by an abnormally high frequency and/or duration of stoppages in the forward flow of speech (i.e., repetitions of sounds, syllables, or words, blocks of airflow, and prolongations of sounds).  Cluttering is characterized by bursts of rapid rates of speech that are unintelligible and disfluent to the listener.

“FRIGHT, FLIGHT, or FIGHT” RESPONSE

A nervous system defensive response to real or perceived danger.

IDEATIONAL APRAXIA:

Inability to correlate purpose and accomplishments of tasks.

KINESTHESIA:

Conscious perception of movement, weight, resistance, and position of a body part; also kinesthesis.

MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY (MD):

A broad term that describes a genetic (inherited) disorder of the muscles. MD causes the muscles in the body to become very weak. The muscles break down and are replaced with fatty deposits over time. The most common form of MD is called Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD)

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (MS):

A disorder of the central nervous system of unknown cause in which the body’s immune system attacks myelin in the brain and spinal cord. Whether the disease manifests in repeated episodes of inflammation or as a chronic condition, it results in multiple scars, or scleroses, on the myelin sheath, leading to impairment or loss of nerve function.

ORAL: 

Mouth

PICKY EATERS:

Have a decreased range or variety of foods they eat, child will eat 30 or less foods. Eats the same food, the same way, all the time causes temporary burn out and the child refuses this particular food, these foods are usually accepted again after a two-week break. New foods on plate are tolerated and touched or tasted, even if reluctantly. Child eats at least one food from each food texture group.

PROBLEM FEEDERS:

Have a restricted range or variety of foods they eat, usually less than 20 different foods. Eating the same food, the same way, all the time causes permanent burn out and the child will not resume eating this food even after a break. Child cries and “falls apart” when presented with new foods. Child refuses entire categories of food textures.

PROPRIOCEPTION:

The unconscious perception of sensations coming form one’s joints, muscles, tendons, and ligaments that allow the brain to know where each body part is and how it is moving.

REACTIONS:

Complex and inconstant responses developing from integration of simultaneous sensory stimulation such as tactile, vestibular, visual, and auditory.

RECEPTIVE APHASIA:

Impairment in interpretation of the meaning of spoken and written words.

RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE DISORDER:

Impairment in understanding written or spoken language

RIGHTING REACTIONS:

Reflexes that through various receptors in the labyrinth, eyes, muscles, or skin tend to bring an organism’s body into its normal position in space and which resist any force acting to put it into a false position; e.g., on its back.

SENSORY DEFENSIVENESS:

Fight or flight reaction to sensation that most others would consider non-noxious.

SENSORY INTEGRATION:

All of the information that we receive about the world comes to us through our sensory system. Because many sensory processes take place within the nervous system at an unconscious level, we are not usually aware of them. Senses include: taste, smell, sight, sounds, touch, and movement, force of gravity and body position. A child and/or adult may not be organizing this information in a functional manner and therefore development is delayed. Common delays include but are not limited to: delays in speech/language, delayed motor skills, hypersensitivities to sensory input, feeding difficulties, sleeping disturbances, bowel and bladder difficulties.

SENSORY INTEGRATION DYSFUNCTION:

Difficulty with Central Nervous System processing or sensation, especially vestibular, tactile, or proprioceptive, which is manifested as poor praxis, poor modulation, or both.

SEQUENTIAL ORAL SENSORY (SOS)

Approach to Feeding:

A multidisciplinary program for assessing and treating children with feeding and weight/growth difficulties. The SOS approach integrates sensory, motor, oral, behavioral/learning, medical and nutritional factors in order to evaluate and manage children with feeding/growth problems.

SPATIAL RELATIONS:

Relationship of the skeletal parts of the body to each other and to objects in the environment.

STEREOGNOSIS:

Perception and identification of the form and nature of an object through the sense of touch.

TACTILE:

Touch system

TACTILE DEFENSIVENESS:

Quality of being unable to tolerate touch; resistive and uncomfortable at certain kinds of touch (believed to be a form of sensory integrative dysfunction)

THERAPEUTIC LISTENING:

A program designed to increase the function of the vestibular-cochlear system in the inner ear. The vestibular–cochlear system detects sound and position of the head in space. It impacts the ability to hear and listen as well as muscle tone, postural control, balance, coordination, visual spatial skills and attention. The Therapeutic Listening Program is administered and designed for each client, by an Occupational Therapist certified in Therapeutic Listening.

VESTIBULAR:

The sensory system that responds to the position of the head and body movement and coordinates movements of the eyes, head, and body; contributes to posture and the maintenance of the stable visual field. Receptors are located in the inner ear.