Abduction
Movement of a limb outward and away from the midline of the body – ie. raising an arm or leg out to one side.

Acalculia
Inability to do the most simple calculations.

Achilles Tendon
The ‘heelcord’, the long tendon which joins the calf muscles to the heel. It can be felt at the back of the heel.

Adduction
The opposite of ‘abduction’ – ie. movement of a limb inward and towards, or even across, the midline of the body.

Aetiology
The study of what is known of the cause of the disease.

Agnosia
Inability to recognise objects or sounds due to lack of perceptive capacity, although the general level of intelligence is normal.

(a) Auditory agnosia, where the person’s hearing is normal but he is unable to understand what words mean.
(b) Finger agnosia (sometimes used as a test for cerebral palsy), where a person is unable to identify individual fingers when, for example, they are touched by another person.
(c) Tactile agnosia, where a person is unable to identify familiar objects by touch alone although he is aware that he is touching something.
(d) Visual agnosia, where a person is able to see but unable to express ideas in words.
Aphasia A specific defect to brain function which leads to:
(a) Expressive aphasia, when a person is unable to express ideas in words.
(b) Receptive aphasia, when a person is unable to understand spoken language.
Auditory agnosia and receptive aphasia mean much the same thing.

Aprasia
An inability to perform purposeful movements, such as using a screwdriver, which is not accompanied by an apparent muscular weakness. It is due to a dysfunction of the brain.

Arthrodesis
A surgical operation to fix a joint in one position.

Ataxia
A generalised inco-ordination of movement due to inco-ordination of the muscles involved which results in instability of sitting, standing and walking and a similar disturbance of arm movement.

Athetosis
The term used to indicate a particular sort of uncontrollable movement and result from a particular brain lesion. It is present in the ‘athetoid’ type of cerebral palsy.

Audiogram
A record, in the form of a graph, of the hearing acuity of a patient. Audiometer, an instrument used to test a patient’s hearing acuity at different frequency levels and intensity.

Cerebellum
That part of the brain which – among other things – has to do with balance.

Cerebral Palsy
A disorder of movement and posture arising in the early years of life as the result of some interference with the ordinary development of the brain. It is non-progressive in that the damage to the brain itself will not get worse.

Diplegia
Paresis (weakness) of the upper and lower limbs of both sides. Diplegia is usually understood to imply that the lower limbs are more severely affected than the upper (of double Hemiplegia).

Distractibility
The inability to concentrate – ie. a person who is easily distracted from the performance of a task.

Double Hemiplegia
Paresis involving the limbs on both sides of the body with the upper limbs more severely affected than the lower.

Dysarthia
Imperfect production of the sounds used in speech due to defective neuro-muscular control of the organs which control speech.

Dysgraphia
Difficulty in writing due to a defect of brain function other than sensory defect. (the alternative word ‘agraphia’ is sometimes used)

Dyslalia
Difficulty in speaking due to a defect of brain function other than sensory defect. (the alternative word ‘alalia’ is sometimes used)

Dyslexia
Difficulty in reading due to a defect of brain function other than sensory defect. (the alternative word ‘alexia’ is sometimes used)

Emotional Disorder
A loose term used to indicate abnormal behaviour and emotional disturbance (q.v.) but to some emotional strain or stress.

Epilepsy
A condition which causes a person to suffer from fits characterised by abnornal and uncontrollable movements of the body and unconsciousneness. Such fits are described as ‘grand mal’ when there is a loss of consciousness and convulsions or ‘petit mal’ when there is only momentary loss of consciousness and no convulsions.

Extensor
The name given to those muscles which, when they contract, cause a joint to straighten.

Flexor
The name given to those muscles which, when they contract, cause a joint to bend (or flex).

Gastrocnemius
The bulk of the muscles at the back of the calf.

Muscle Grand Mal
See Epilepsy.

Hamstrings
A group of three muscles at the back of the thigh which extend the thigh at the hip and flex the leg at the knee.

Hemiplegia
Weakness or paralysis of the limbs on one side of the body as the result of a disorder of the brain.

Hyperkinesis
Incessant restless activity.

IQ (Intelligence Quotient)
A figure used to indicate the level of a person’s intelligence above or below that of an ‘average intellect’ (IQ 100). Intelligence Quotients are based on responses to Intelligence Tests (q.v.). Education, mood, drive, energy, sensory receptors and perception play a part in determining the use a person makes of his intellectual capacities.

Kinaesthesia
The sense of understanding of where one’s limbs are, whether still or in motion.

Monoplegia
Paresis or paralysis affecting one limb only.

Ophthalmologist
A doctor who specialises in diseases of the eye.

Paediatrician
A doctor who specialises in the care of children and in their disorders and diseases.

Paralysis, Paresis, Palsy
These words are often used rather loosely. Strictly speaking ‘paralysis’ means complete inability to move a particular part of the body. ’Paresis’ describes a weakness not amounting to paralysis and ‘palsy’ is synonymous with paralysis. In fact many people use ‘paralysis’ to describe weakness only.

Paraplegia
Weakness or paralysis affecting the legs only.

Perception
A process of the brain by which we understand and interpret the information we receive through the organs of sensation, which keep us in contact with the outside world by means of vision, hearing, touch, smell and taste.

Perseveration
A persisting tendency to repeat actions or phrases of sentence. An ability to stop one activity and transfer to another.

Psychiatrist
A doctor who is concerned with mental disorders. A child psychiatrist specialises in the mental and emotional disturbance of children.

Psychologist
A person who studies the ways in which people think and act. He is usually the person who assesses intelligence and applies intelligence tests.

Psychosis
A mental illness, other than intellectual handicap (subnornality) in which the patient does not have insight (i.e. does not understand that his mind is not working normally). A psychosis is a more severe and fundamental ‘illness’ than a neurosis.

Quadriplegia
Weakness or paralysis affecting all four limbs. See also tetraplegia.

Reflex
A stereotyped automatic movement without conscious control ie. sudden withdrawal of the hand when pricked with a pin or the jerk of the lower leg when the knee is tapped by the doctor.

Rigidity
Sustained stiffness of a limb or limbs in extension.

Sensory
Having to do with that part of the nervous system which receives and interprets signals through the senses as distinct from ‘motor’ which has to do with that part of the nervous system which transmits signals to the muscles and so organises the activities of the body.

Spastic
A term with two meanings:
(i) Popularly used to indicate any child or adult suffering from cerebral palsy and diplegia. This is detected by the particular sort of increased resistance to passive movement of the parts of the limb.
(ii) Medically speaking it is used to describe a specific type of stiffness commonly seen in the limbs of hemiplegia.

Spasticity
The state of being spastic.

Spatial Perception
The appreciation of size, distance and the relationship of objects one with another.

Tetraplegia
Weakness or paralysis affecting all four limbs. See also quadriplegia.

Tonic
Sustained tension of the limb.

Tremor
Rhythmic, uncontrolled repetitive movement of parts of the body.

Triplegia
Weakness or paralysis affecting three limbs.

Valgus Varus
Terms used to describe the position of a limb distal to the joint under consideration. If the part beyond the joint points away from the midline, there is said to be a ‘valgus’ joint. If it points towards the midline the joint is said to ‘varus’.