Neuroscience for Occupational Therapy - Degenerative and Traumatic Neurological Disorders

Flashcards for Degenerative and Traumatic Neurological Disorders

Cerebral Cortex

The site of conscious mind: awareness, sensory perception, voluntary motor initiation, communication, memory storage, understanding.

Motor areas

Control voluntary movement.

Sensory areas

Conscious awareness of sensation.

Association areas

Integrate diverse information

TBI

A specific type of ABI, meaning all TBIs are ABIs, but not all ABIs are TBIs.

Congenital neurological disorders

Birth defects affecting the brain or spinal cord, often due to issues during fetal development. Generally stable; due to genetic or prenatal causes. They can range from minor to severe and include conditions like spina bifida, hydrocephalus, and cerebral palsy.

Degenerative conditions

Cause progressive loss of neurons in the brain &/or spinal cord.

Muscular dystrophy (MD)

A group of inherited genetic conditions that cause progressive muscle weakness and degeneration.

Huntington’s Chorea

Characterized by involuntary, jerky movements (chorea), but it also impacts thinking, behaviour, and emotions. The disease attacks areas of the brain that help to control voluntary (intentional) movement, as well as other areas.

Motor Neurone Disease (MND)

Affects the voluntary muscles. Symptoms include difficulty talking, swallowing, breathing and moving the body. Some people may also experience cognitive and behavioural changes.

Parkinson’s Disease

A movement and mood disorder typically presenting with symptoms such as slowness of movement, muscle rigidity, instability, tremor, depression and anxiety.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

An autoimmune disorder where the body's immune system mistakenly attacks and damages myelin. The damage to myelin disrupts the transmission of nerve signals, leading to a wide range of symptoms.

Dementias

A group of conditions that affect the brain, leading to problems with memory, thinking, reasoning, and behavior.

Compensatory/Adaptive Rehabilitation Approach

Works with the existing strengths to compensate for deficits; focus is on functional activities training; targeted at occupation/activity level; involves strategy training – focuses on teaching compensatory approaches to bypass deficits.

Remedial Rehabilitation Approach

Assumes the brain repairs itself by establishing new neural connections or repairing ones that are damaged; focus is on restoration; targeted at performance component level; involves process training- focuses on improving component skills.

Process Training

A remedial approach in which pen and paper tasks, telephones and computers are used to train, practise and stimulate the recovery of impaired cognitive functions.