Glossary
Glossary of Terms
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
Please be patient as we create a glossary of terms that will help you as parents, caregivers, physicians, schools and therapists to better understand our BlueBalloon Health Services site.
| A |
Adaptive Interaction: Interactions between an individual and the environment in which the individual meets the demands of the task. Ayres emphasized the need for a client’s actions to be just a little better than they had ever been before. Adaptive interactions give rise to production and outcome feedback. Assessment for Autism and other Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD): A comprehensive autism diagnostic assessment at blueballoon would include several sessions with the family, in which informal parent interviews and child observation would be supplemented by the following formal psychological measures: |
| B | Body Schema: An unconscious mechanism underlying spatial motor coordination that provides the central nervous system with information about the relationship of the body and its parts to environmental space. |
| C | Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is a well-evaluated form of psychotherapy aimed at reducing psychological distress and maladaptive behaviours. The underlying assumption of CBT is that there is a link between our cognitions (i.e., thoughts about and interpretations of certain situations), our feelings, and our behaviours (i.e., how we act in certain situations). There is much scientific evidence for the effectiveness of CBT in successfully treating a number of childhood disorders such as anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and anger management. |
| D |
Dynamic Balance: Balance in the context of voluntary movement.
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| E | Enhanced Sensation: More than that typically derived from daily life activity. |
| F | Coming Soon |
| G | Coming Soon |
| H | Coming Soon |
| I | Coming Soon |
| J | Coming Soon |
| K | Coming Soon |
| L | Learning Disability: A disorder of presumed neurological origin that results in difficulty with one or more of the processes involved in perceiving, understanding, using language, or doing mathematical calculations. It is not the result of primary visual or hearing loss, motor handicap, cognitive limitations, or lack of learning opportunities. |
| M | Coming Soon |
| N | Neurodevelopmental Treatment: A sensorimotor approach to assessment and intervention of motor performance developed by Berta and Karl Bobath that is based on both neurological principles and normal development |
| O | Coming Soon |
| P | Postural Dysfunction: Outward manifestation of vestibular proprioceptive processing deficits; characterized by difficulty with proximal stability, low extensor muscle tone, poor prone extension, poor neck flexion against gravity, and often, poor equilibrium. Proprioception: Sensations derived form movement (i.e. speed, rate, sequencing, timing, and force) and joint position. Derived from stimulation to muscle and, to a lesser extent, joint receptors, especially from resistance to movement. |
| Q | Coming Soon |
| R | Coming Soon |
| S | Scaffolding: A process in which a therapist or other caregiver adjusts and controls task elements that are just beyond a child’s skills allowing the child to focus on elements that are within his or her abilities and to achieve success in completing the task. Sensorimotor Approaches: The application of specific sensory stimulation through handling or direct stimulation with the purpose of eliciting a desired motor response. Sensory Defensiveness: Fight or flight reaction to sensation that most others would consider non-noxious. Sensory Detection: First step of sensory processing within the central nervous system. Sensory Integration: The neurological process that organizes sensation from one’s own body and from the environment and makes it possible to use the body effectively within the environment; the entire sequence of central nervous system events from reception to the display of an adaptive environmental interaction. Sensory Integration and Praxis Tests (SIPT): A battery of 17 tests designed to evaluate several aspects of praxis as well as some aspects of somatosensory and visual discrimination and postural control in children 4 through 8 years of age with mild to moderate learning or motor difficulties. Their primary use is to contribute to understanding a child’s difficulties and planning intervention. Sensory-Integrative-Based Dyspraxia: Developmental difficulty with planning unfamiliar movements resulting from poor body scheme, which is based in turn on poor processing of sensation, especially vestibular, proprioception, and tactile. Generally, we speak of two types: deficits in bilateral integration and sequencing and somatodyspraxia. Sensory-Integrative-Based Therapy: A program of intervention involving meaningful therapeutic activities characterized by enhanced sensation, especially tactile, vestibular, and proprioception, active participation, and adaptive interaction. Sensory Integrative Dysfunction: Difficulty with Central Nervous System processing of sensation, especially vestibular, tactile, or proprioceptive, which is manifested as poor praxis, poor modulation, or both. Sensory Modulation: The ability to regulate and organize reactions to sensory input in a graded and adaptive manner (behavioural). The balancing of excitatory and inhibitory inputs, and adapting to environmental changes (neurophysiological). Sensory Modulation Dysfunction: A pattern of dysfunction of sensory integration in which a person under- or over-responds to sensory input from the body or environment. There are several types: gravitational insecurity, aversive response to movement; sensory defensiveness, under-responsiveness. Sensory Processing: Functions related to sensation occurring in the central nervous system; includes reception, modulation, integration, and organization of sensory stimuli; also includes the behavioural responses to sensory input. Sensory Stimulation: A treatment technique that involves the application of direct sensory stimulation with the purpose of eliciting a generalized behavioural response, such as increased attention or calming. |
| T |
Tactile: Sensation derived from stimulation to the skin. Therapeutic Listening: Therapeutic Listening is a treatment tool that may be used as part of sensory integration therapy. It involves the use of sound vibrations to stimulate neural processing, thus allowing for a therapeutic influence on the processing of the auditory and vestibular systems. |
| U | Coming Soon |
| V | Vestibular: Sensation derived form stimulation to the vestibular mechanism in the inner ear that occurs through movement and position of the head; contributes to posture and the maintenance of a stable visual field. |
| W | Coming Soon |
| X | Coming Soon |
| Y | Coming Soon |
| Z | Coming Soon |
1. Bundy, A. C., Lane, S. J., & Murray, E. A. (2002). Sensory integration: Theory and practice (2nd edition). Philadelphia, PA: F. A. Davix Company.