Apraxia is a motor disorder caused by damage to the brain (specifically the posterior parietal cortex or corpus callosum), which causes difficulty with motor planning to perform tasks or movements. The nature of the damage determines the disorder's severity, and the absence of sensory loss or paralysis helps to explain the level of difficulty. Children may be born with apraxia; its cause is unknown, and symptoms are usually noticed in the early stages of development. Apraxia occurring later in life, known as acquired apraxia, is typically caused by traumatic brain injury, stroke, dementia, Alzheimer's disease, brain tumor, or other neurodegenerative disorders. The multiple types of apraxia are categorized by the specific ability and/or body part affected. The term "apraxia" comes from the Greek ἀ- a- ("without") and πρᾶξις praxis ("action"). The several types of apraxia include: Apraxia of speech (AOS) is having difficulty planning and coordinating the movements necessary for speech (e.g. potato=totapo, topato). AOS can independently occur without issues in areas such as verbal comprehension, reading comprehension, writing, articulation, or prosody. Buccofacial or orofacial apraxia, the most common type of apraxia, is the inability to carry out facial movements on demand. For example, an inability to lick one's lips, wink, or whistle when requested to do so. This suggests an inability to carry out volitional movements of the tongue, cheeks, lips, pharynx, or larynx on command. Constructional apraxia is the inability to draw, construct, or copy simple configurations, such as intersecting shapes. These patients have difficulty copying a simple diagram or drawing basic shapes. Gait apraxia is the loss of ability to have normal function of the lower limbs such as walking. This is not due to loss of motor or sensory functions. Ideational/conceptual apraxia is having an inability to conceptualize a task and impaired ability to complete multistep actions. This form of apraxia consists of an inability to select and carry out an appropriate motor program.

About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Related lectures (1)
Neural Signals and Signal Processing
Explores neural signals, EMG processing, muscle synergies, and prosthetic control using advanced signal processing techniques.
Related publications (12)

Novel Methods For Detection And Analysis Of Atypical Aspects In Speech

Julian David Fritsch

Atypical aspects in speech concern speech that deviates from what is commonly considered normal or healthy. In this thesis, we propose novel methods for detection and analysis of these aspects, e.g. to monitor the temporary state of a speaker, diseases tha ...
EPFL2023

Automatic pathological speech assessment

Parvaneh Janbakhshi

Many pathologies cause impairments in the speech production mechanism resulting in reduced speech intelligibility and communicative ability. To assist the clinical diagnosis, treatment and management of speech disorders, automatic pathological speech asses ...
EPFL2022

Strata. Mining Silence

Denise Bertschi

Anlässlich der Ausstellung, die die Künstlerin als Gewinnerin des Manor Kunstpreises 2020 im Aargauer Kunsthaus präsentierte (25. Januar – 26. April 2020), entstand die vorliegende Monografie, die ihre wichtigsten Werkkomplexe vereint. Der Bildteil führt i ...
Aargauer Kunsthaus, Edition Fink Zürich2020
Show more
Related concepts (16)
Stroke
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functioning properly. Signs and symptoms of a stroke may include an inability to move or feel on one side of the body, problems understanding or speaking, dizziness, or loss of vision to one side. Signs and symptoms often appear soon after the stroke has occurred.
Speech–language pathology
Speech-language pathology (or speech and language pathology) is a field of healthcare expertise practiced globally. Speech-language pathology (SLP) specializes in the evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of communication disorders (speech and language impairments), cognitive-communication disorders, voice disorders, pragmatic disorders, social communication difficulties and swallowing disorder across the lifespan.
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens, and is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems with language, disorientation (including easily getting lost), mood swings, loss of motivation, self-neglect, and behavioral issues. As a person's condition declines, they often withdraw from family and society.
Show more

Graph Chatbot

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.