Glossary of Commonly Used Occupational Therapy Terms
Key Concepts
- Adaptive Response: An action that meets environmental demands effectively, demonstrating sensory integration, driving learning and social interactions.
- Auditory Processing Skills: Involves listening and verbal communication, focusing, and differentiating sounds.
- Bilateral Coordination and Integration: Using both sides of the body in a coordinated manner, foundational for many physical tasks.
- Binocularity: Creating a single image from two separate images received by the eyes.
Sensory and Perception Terms
- Body Awareness: Understanding one's own body parts and their movement.
- Cocontraction: Joint stability through the simultaneous contraction of surrounding muscle groups.
- Depth Perception: Judging the distance between objects or oneself.
- Directionality: Awareness of directional movement (right/left, forward/back, up/down).
- Dyspraxia: Deficient motor planning related to sensory processing issues.
- Eye-Hand Coordination: Important for activities like playing, dressing, and writing.
Motor Skills and Coordination
- Fine Motor Skills: Control of small muscles for precise tasks, essential in handling tools.
- Gross Motor Skills: Involves large muscle movements like running, jumping, and climbing.
- Motor Control and Coordination: Regulation and harmony in muscle group movements.
- Praxis: Planning and executing unfamiliar, complex movements.
Emotional and Behavioral Responses
- Fight-or-Flight Response: The instinctive reaction to danger, either by aggression or withdrawal.
- Hypersensitivity and Hyposensitivity: Over or under sensitivity to sensory stimuli, affecting behavior and engagement.
- Self-Regulation: Controlling one's level of activity and emotional responses.
Sensory Systems and Functions
- Sensory Integration: The process of organizing sensory input for learning and functioning.
- Sensory Modulation: Balancing neural activity in response to sensory input.
- Proprioception: Awareness of body position and movement, important for coordination.
- Vestibular Sense: Related to balance and movement coordination through inner ear receptors.
- Visual Processing Skills: Involves visual discrimination, perception, and coordination with motor skills.
Additional Terms
- Gravitational Insecurity: Fear of falling due to head position changes.
- Plasticity: The brain's ability to change through activity and sensation response.
- Tactile Defensiveness: Negative reactions to unexpected touch sensations.
- Spatial Awareness: Understanding spatial relationships and proximity.
This glossary provides foundational definitions for understanding various occupational therapy terms related to sensory processing, motor skills, and integrative functions crucial for adaptive responses and daily functioning.