Words to Know

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A: 

Abstract thinking: The ability to understand complex ideas or concepts beyond literal interpretations.

Acquired brain injury: Damage to the brain that occurs after birth, often caused by trauma, stroke, or other medical conditions.

Acuity: The sharpness or clarity of vision. After a brain injury, visual acuity may be affected, leading to changes in the ability to see details or focus on objects.

Acute care: Immediate medical treatment provided to individuals with severe injuries or medical conditions, often in a hospital setting.

Adaptive equipment: Tools or devices designed to help individuals with disabilities perform daily tasks and activities more easily.

Activities of Daily Living: Basic self-care tasks such as eating, dressing, bathing, and toileting.

Agitation: Restlessness or emotional distress often characterized by increased irritability or anxiety.

Agraphia: Difficulty with writing or expressing thoughts through written language. 

Alexia: Difficulty with writing or expressing thoughts through written language.

Ambulate: To walk or move about, often with assistance if mobility is impaired.

Aneurysm: A weak or bulging spot in an artery that can burst and cause bleeding in the brain.

Anomia: Difficulty recalling or accessing words, often characterized by the inability to name objects or people.

Aphasia: Impairment of language ability, affecting the production or comprehension of speech and the ability to read or write.

Apraxia: Difficulty with planning and executing voluntary movements, often affecting activities such as speaking, walking, or using objects.

Arousal: The state of being awake and alert, which can vary in intensity.

Articulation: The ability to produce clear and distinct speech sounds.

Aspiration: Accidentally inhaling food, liquid, or foreign objects into the lungs, which can lead to pneumonia or other complications.

Assistive equipment: Tools, devices, or technology designed to assist individuals with disabilities in performing tasks, improving mobility, or enhancing communication.

Attention: Paying close and careful focus to things happening around you or tasks you need to do.

Awareness: Knowing what's going on with yourself and the world around you.

B:

Balance: The ability to stay upright and steady while standing, walking, or moving. 

Behavior: Actions or reactions displayed by a person. After a brain injury, behavior may change, leading to differences in mood, personality, or social interactions.

Bilateral: Involving both sides or parts of the body. 

C:

Case management: Coordination of services and resources to support the needs of individuals with brain injuries. Case managers help plan and organize care, therapies, and other support services.

Catheter: A flexible tube inserted into the body to drain fluids, such as urine, from the bladder. It may be used temporarily or permanently after a brain injury if bladder control is affected.

Chronic: Persisting over a long period of time or recurring frequently. Some effects of brain injury, such as cognitive difficulties or physical impairments, may become chronic.

Cognition: Mental processes involved in understanding and interacting with the world, including thinking, memory, perception, and problem-solving. Brain injury can impact cognition, leading to difficulties in these areas.

Cognitive Rehabilitation: Therapy aimed at improving cognitive skills and abilities affected by brain injury, such as memory, attention, and problem-solving.

Community integration program: Programs designed to help individuals with brain injuries reintegrate into their communities, often involving vocational training, social skills development, and recreational activities.

Community skills: Skills needed to function effectively in community settings, such as navigating public transportation, shopping, and interacting with others.

Comprehension: Understanding or grasping the meaning of information, instructions, or communication. Brain injury can affect comprehension, making it difficult to understand spoken or written language.

Concentration: The ability to focus attention on a task or stimulus for a sustained period.

Contracture: Permanent shortening or tightening of muscles or tendons, often leading to reduced range of motion in joints.

Contusion: A bruise or injury to the brain tissue caused by a blow to the head. Contusions can result in localized bleeding and tissue damage.

Convergence: The ability of both eyes to focus on a single point, such as when looking at an object up close.

Cortical blindness: Blindness caused by damage to the visual cortex of the brain, despite the eyes themselves being healthy. Individuals with cortical blindness may have difficulty perceiving or interpreting visual stimuli.

D:

Disinhibition: Reduced control over impulses or behaviors, leading to socially inappropriate actions or comments.

Disorientation: Confusion or lack of awareness of one's surroundings, time, or situation.

Dysarthria: Difficulty speaking clearly due to weakness or coordination problems in the muscles used for speech

Dysphagia: Difficulty swallowing, which can lead to choking or aspiration of food or liquid into the lungs.

E:

Edema: Swelling caused by an accumulation of fluid in tissues. Edema can occur in the brain after injury, leading to increased pressure and potential complications.

Extremity: A limb or appendage of the body, such as an arm or leg. Brain injury can affect the function and sensation of extremities, leading to weakness, numbness, or loss of coordination.

Eye Alignment: The coordination of the eyes to focus on the same point in space. After a brain injury, eye alignment may be disrupted, leading to issues such as double vision or strabismus (crossed eyes).

F:

Field Cuts: Loss of vision in specific areas of the visual field. After a brain injury, field cuts may occur, resulting in blind spots or reduced peripheral vision.

Figure Ground: The ability to distinguish objects from their background in a visual scene. Brain injury can affect figure-ground perception, leading to difficulties in visually identifying objects or people in cluttered environments.

Fixation: The ability to keep the eyes focused on a specific object or point in space. After a brain injury, fixation may be affected, leading to difficulties in maintaining steady gaze or attention.

Flaccid: Lacking muscle tone or strength, often resulting in weakness or limpness in affected body parts.

Flexion: Bending or movement of a joint that decreases the angle between bones. Flexion can be affected by brain injury, leading to stiffness, spasticity, or limited range of motion in joints.

Foley catheter: A type of urinary catheter that is inserted into the bladder to drain urine and is held in place by a balloon filled with sterile water.

G:

Gait Training: Therapy aimed at improving walking ability and mobility after a brain injury. Gait training may involve exercises to improve strength, balance, and coordination.

GI Tube: A gastrointestinal tube inserted through the nose or mouth into the stomach or intestines to provide nutrition, fluids, or medications. GI tubes may be used after a brain injury if swallowing or feeding is impaired.

Global aphasia: Severe language impairment affecting both expressive and receptive language skills, including speaking, understanding, reading, and writing. 

H:

Head Injury: Trauma or damage to the head, including the scalp, skull, and brain. Head injuries can range from mild concussions to severe traumatic brain injuries with lasting effects.

I:

Immediate memory: The ability to hold and recall information for a short period, typically lasting seconds to minutes. Immediate memory can be affected by brain injury, leading to difficulties in remembering recent events or instructions.

Impairment: Any significant deviation or loss of body structure or function. Brain injury can result in impairments affecting physical, cognitive, sensory, or emotional abilities.

Impulse Control: The ability to resist urges or impulses and regulate behavior appropriately.

Impulsiveness: Acting on impulses or urges without considering the consequences. Impulsiveness can occur after a brain injury due to changes in impulse control or judgment.

Incontinent: Unable to control bladder or bowel function, leading to involuntary loss of urine or feces. 

Independent Living: The ability to perform daily activities and manage one's own affairs without assistance. After a brain injury, independent living skills may need to be relearned or adapted to accommodate changes in abilities.

Initiation: The ability to start or begin tasks or activities independently. After a brain injury, initiation may be affected, making it difficult to start tasks or follow through with plans.

Intention Tremor: A type of tremor that occurs during purposeful movements, such as reaching for an object or touching a target. Intention tremors can occur after a brain injury due to damage to areas of the brain involved in movement coordination.

J:

Jargon: Specialized or technical language used within a particular profession or group. 

Judgment: The ability to make sound decisions and assess situations based on logic, reason, and past experiences. Brain injury can affect judgment, leading to poor decision-making or risk-taking behaviors.

K:

L:

Long term Memory: The ability to remember events, experiences, and information from the distant past. It includes things like childhood memories, facts learned in school, and significant life events.

M:

Memory: The mental process of storing, retaining, and recalling information. Memory can be affected by brain injury, leading to difficulties in remembering things like names, dates, or recent events.

Money Management: The ability to handle finances and make decisions about money. Brain injury can impact money management skills, making it challenging to budget, pay bills, or make financial plans.

Motor control: The ability to coordinate and control voluntary movements of the muscles and limbs. Brain injury can affect motor control, leading to difficulties with tasks like walking, reaching, or grasping objects.

Muscle Tone: The level of tension or resistance in muscles when they are at rest. Brain injury can affect muscle tone, leading to changes such as stiffness (increased tone) or weakness (decreased tone) in affected muscles.

N:

Non-Ambultaroy: Unable to walk or move independently.

Nystagmus: Involuntary, rhythmic movements of the eyes, often characterized by rapid, repetitive eye movements. 

O:

Occupational Therapy: Therapy that helps people regain skills for daily life and work after injury or illness, often focusing on tasks like dressing, cooking, and working.

Orientation: Knowing who you are, where you are, and what time it is. After a brain injury, this might be affected, making it difficult to understand your surroundings or situation.

Outpatient: Medical care received without staying overnight in a hospital. It can include doctor visits, therapy sessions, or treatments.

P:

Perception: Understanding and making sense of what you see, hear, or feel. After a brain injury, perception might be altered, making it harder to interpret sensory information.

Perseveration: Getting stuck on a thought, action, or word and repeating it over and over, even when it's not helpful or appropriate.

Physical Therapist: A healthcare professional who helps people improve movement and manage pain through exercises, stretches, and other techniques.

Plasticity: The brain's ability to change and adapt, even after injury, by forming new connections between nerve cells.

Problem Solving Skills: The ability to find solutions to challenges or obstacles. After a brain injury, problem-solving skills might be impacted, making it harder to figure out solutions.

Prognosis: A prediction of how a person's condition is likely to progress over time, based on their injury and other factors.

Prone: Lying face down or on one's stomach.

Proprioception: The sense of knowing where your body is in space and how it's moving, even without looking.

Pursuits: Smooth, coordinated eye movements that track a moving object. After a brain injury, pursuits may be affected, leading to difficulties in smoothly tracking objects or following moving targets.

R: 

Range of Motion: The extent to which a joint can move in various directions.

Recreation therapist: A therapist who uses recreational activities like sports, art, and games to help people with injuries or illnesses improve physical and mental well-being.

Rehabilitation: The process of recovering from injury or illness through therapy, exercises, and other treatments.

S:

Saccades: Rapid, jerky eye movements that shift gaze from one point to another. After a brain injury, saccades may be impaired, leading to difficulties in quickly scanning or shifting attention between objects or locations.

Self Efficacy: Belief in your ability to do things and handle situations. After a brain injury, self-efficacy might be affected, making it harder to feel confident in your abilities.

Sensation: The ability to feel touch, pressure, temperature, or pain.

Sequencing: Putting things in order or following steps in a process. After a brain injury, sequencing might be difficult, making it hard to complete tasks with multiple steps.

Short Term memory: The ability to remember information for a short period, like a phone number you just heard.

Spasticity: Increased muscle stiffness or tightness, often causing involuntary movements or spasms.

Spatial Neglect: Ignoring or not being aware of one side of the body or space, often seen after brain injury.

Speech Language Pathologist: A healthcare professional who helps with speech, language, and communication problems.

Supine: Lying on one's back.

T:

Traumatic brain Injury: Damage to the brain caused by an external force, such as a blow to the head.

V:

Vegetative State: A condition where a person is awake but unaware of their surroundings, often following severe brain injury.

Vestibular: Relating to the inner ear and balance.

Visual tracking: The ability to follow objects with your eyes as they move.

W:

Wernicke’ s Aphasia: A language disorder that affects understanding and producing spoken language, often caused by brain injury.