AJAX progress indicator
  • a

  • Acquisitional Occupation
    Skills targeted towards the restoration of impaired skills.
  • Activities of Daily Living (ADL)
    People's daily self care activities.
  • Adaptive Occupation
    Skills focused on adapting to new environment.
  • Amantadine
    An antiviral and antiparkinsonian drug.
  • Antidepressants
    Drugs, majorly used for the treatment of depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders and neuropathic pain.
  • Aphasia
    A language disorder that affects the production or comprehension of speech and the ability to read or write.
  • Apraxia
    A disorder that deals with the motor planning to perform tasks or movements when asked.
  • b

  • Basal Ganglia
    A set of interconnected nuclei in the forebrain.
  • Bradykinesia
    A medical term for the slowness of movement.
  • Brain cortex
    The largest part of the human brain, associated with higher brain function like thought and action.
  • c

  • Cardiovascular Health
    The wellbeing of the heart and blood vessels.
  • Central Nervous System
    The part of the nervous system which consists of the brain and spinal cord which coordinates the activity of the entire nervous system.
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
    A therapeutic method that primarily deals with anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), eating disorders and anger problems.
  • Compensatory Techniques
    Behavioral strategies designed to bypass persistent impairment in attention, memory, executive-function, and other cognitive skills.
  • Cueing techniques
    Visual or verbal techniques that use hand signals or minimal words to inform an individual.
  • d

  • Dopamine
    An endogenous chemical that helps control the brain's reward and pleasure centers. It also helps regulate body's movement and emotional responses.
  • Dysarthria
    A medical term used to describe unclear articulation of speech that is otherwise linguistically normal.
  • Dyskinesia
    A set of movement disorders that are characterized by involuntary muscle movements.
  • e

  • Esophageal Motility Disorders
    Any medical disorder causing difficulty in swallowing, regurgitation of food and a spasm-type pain.
  • Expiratory Phase
    The portion of the respiratory cycle that involves exhalation, or moving air out of the lungs.
  • f

  • Finger Isolation
    The ability to move each finger one at a time.
  • g

  • Gag Reflex
    A reflex contraction of the back of the throat. Also known as the pharyngeal reflex, it is commonly evoked by touching the uvula, the roof of the mouth, the back of the tongue, the area around the tonsils and the back of the throat.
  • Gait Imbalance
    Problem with gait, balance, and coordination.
  • Goose-stepping
    A special marching that is characterized by swing legs in unison off the ground while keeping each leg straight and unbent.
  • i

  • Idiopathic
    Relating to any disease which arises spontaneously or for which the cause is unknown.
  • Inspiratory Phase
    The portion of the respiratory cycle that involves inhaling air in the lungs.
  • l

  • Leisure Skill Development
    Development of recreation skills in individuals with learning disabilities.
  • Levodopa
    One of the main drugs used to treat Parkinson's symptoms at all stages of the condition.  It attempts to replace the dopamine that is lost in Parkinson's.
  • Limbic System
    A set of brain structures located on both sides of the thalamus.
  • LRRK2 (leucine-rich repeat kinase 2)
    An enzyme often associated with an increased risk of Parkinson's disease.
  • m

  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
    An imaging technique, used to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the human body.
  • Motivational Interviewing (MI)
    A counseling approach that harness group processes for evoking and supporting positive change.
  • n

  • Nerve Pathways
    A pathway that connects relatively distant areas of the brain is a bundle of neurons, known collectively as White Matter.
  • Neurologist
    A doctor who specializes in neurology.
  • Neuromuscular Deficits
    A collection of diseases that impair the functioning of the muscles.
  • Neurotransmitters
    Endogenous chemicals that enable neurotransmission.
  • Norepinephrine
    An organic chemical that functions as a hormone and neurotransmitter.
  • o

  • Occupations
    Skills needed for performing self-directed activities.
  • Olfactory Deficit
    A cognitive impairment that results in a disordered sense of smell.
  • Oropharyngeal Dysphagia
    Difficulty initiating a swallow.
  • Orthostatic Hypotension
    A decrease in systolic blood pressure of 20 mm Hg. It is a form of low blood pressure that happens when an individual stands up from sitting or lying down.
  • p

  • Pain Threshold
    The upper limit of tolerance to pain.
  • Pain Tolerance
    The maximum level of pain that an individual is able to tolerate.
  • Pathophysiology
    The disordered physiological processes associated with disease or injury.
  • Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan
    An imaging test that helps reveal how an individual's tissues and organs are functioning.
  • Psychotherapy
    A practice to help people with a broad variety of mental illnesses and emotional difficulties. It can take shape of cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, psychodynamic therapy, or a combination of these.
  • r

  • Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder
    The acting out of dreams that are vivid, intense, and violent.
  • s

  • Seizures
    A sudden surge of electrical activity in the brain, which usually affects how a person appears or acts for a short time.
  • Sialorrhea
    A medical term used for the excessive production of saliva.
  • Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) Scan
    A nuclear imaging test that reveals how blood flows to tissues and organs in the human body.
  • Syncope
    A sudden drop in heart rate and blood pressure leading to fainting.
  • u

  • Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS)
    A scale that measures the longitudinal course of Parkinson's disease.