Glossary L - P

L

Language disorders Disorders, usually due to cognitive or neurological dysfunction resulting in problems in symbolisation or in delays in language and speech development.

Language skills The use of language for communicative competence. The ability to use language as a tool to aid interaction within society, via communication with individuals and groups.

Learning disability A permanent condition, arising during childhood or adolescence, characterised by a state if incomplete development of mind that includes significant impairments of intelligence and social functioning.

Lesch Nyhan syndrome Hyperuricaemia (high serum levels of uric acid) due to a defective gene. Patients with this syndrome are prone to have uric acid kidney stones and mental retardation.

Loner A solitary child who is unable to adapt to the social and educational demands of school life.

Lovaas method Intensive, behaviourally-based or training approach to working with young autistic children, based on the theories of Ivar Lovaas at the University of California, Los Angeles.

M

Macrocephaly Excessive head size.

Megalencephaly Having a brain of unusually large size.

Metabolism This means tissue change and includes all physical and chemical processes by which the living body is maintained, and also those by which energy is made available for various forms of work.

Metarepresentation The ability to pretend and to understand pretence in others. This generally develops in the second year of human life but perhaps may be evident earlier. Alternatively, the ability to understand the relationship between a representation and what it represents. This links with metacognition or theory of mind. If metarepresentation is impaired then this affects the person’s theory of mind.

Microcephaly Defect in the growth of the brain which causes it to be smaller than a normal brain.

Miller Dieker syndrome Neural migration disorder in which the convolutions of the cerebral cortex are either completely absent or reduced in number, giving the brain surface a smooth appearance. Problems include developmental delay, microcephaly and seizures.

Monoamine oxidase Monoamine oxidase (MAO) is a naturally occurring enzyme which is concerned in the breakdown of monoamines.

Monoamines Monoamines play an important part in the metabolism of the brain. There is some evidence that excitement is due to an accumulation of monoamines in the brain. Autistic behaviours might be related to an abnormal functional imbalance among monoamines either at a molecular level or at a system level.

Multiple complex developmental disorder Multiple complex (or multiplex) developmental disorder is a descriptive term for an early-onset syndrome in which there are basic deficits in affective modulation, capacity for relating, and stability of thinking. Characteristics of onset in infancy, sustained limitations in the capacity to form reciprocal relationships, and impoverished affective regulation suggest that MCDD might be appropriately placed in the category of PDD. Until the condition is characterised more clearly it is placed under the wider umbrella of PDD-NOS.

Multiple disabilities The presence of more than one disability in the same individual. There are too many possible combinations to list, eg, autism and deafness, physical disability and Down syndrome.

Myelin A fat-like substance wrapped around nerve fibres, acting as an insulator and assisting the rapid transmission of nerve impulses.

N

Neurobiology Study of the biological processes in the nervous system.

Neurochemistry Study of the chemical and metabolic processes in the nervous system.

Neuroendocrinology Study of the endocrine system of the nervous system, the hormones it secretes and its disorders.

Neuroleptics Medication used to treat a wide variety of mental illness. Most affect dopamine production or absorption, some work on serotonin.

Neurological disorders Disorders of the brain and nervous system.

Neurology The study of the brain, its diseases and disorders.

Neuropathology Science which deals with the causes of, and changes produced in the nervous system, by disease.

Neurophysiology The science of life processes in the nervous system, especially the transmission and processing of nerve impulses.

Neuropsychiatry Branch of medicine, the practitioners of which are skilled in the disciplines of both neurology and psychiatry.

Neuropsychology The clinical discipline that employs psychological concepts and tests to understand the functions of the brain and the effect of injury and disease on the brain.

Neurotransmitters Chemicals released by neurons into the synapse to communicate with each other. Some neurotransmitters are “excitatory” and cause the next cell to fire, some are “inhibitory” and prevent the next cell from firing.

Neurotypical (NT) Anyone who isn’t on the autistic spectrum, considered to have a more typical brain structure.

Nonverbal communication Communication through use of facial expression, posture, gesture and body movement.

O

Obsessions Ideas, images or impulses which enter a person’s mind again and again in stereotyped form. They are almost invariably distressing.

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) Anxiety disorder where an individual has to perform specific actions such as washing. These activities may reach such proportions that the individual’s entire life is centred upon them.

Occupational therapy Method of treatment by means of purposeful occupation. The goals are to arouse interest and confidence and exercise mind and body.

Opiates Naturally produced chemical in the body that has effects similar to morphine.

Opioids Substance with pharmacological action like that of opium or its derivatives.

Overselectivity Responding to just one or two components of a stimulus rather than the large number of cues which make up a stimulus, eg, one letter of a word.

P

Paediatrics Branch of medicine dealing with diseases of children.

PANDAS Paediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcus. This is a hypothesis that when some children are exposed to the common group-A beta-haemolytic streptococcal bacteria, which occur in the throat, they develop antibodies which attack the basal ganglia in the brain as well as those bacteria.

Parent-child interactions Interpersonal interactions between parents and their children.

Pathogenesis The mode of production or development of a disease.

Pathological demand avoidance An autism spectrum disorder where individuals resist and avoid the ordinary demands of life, using skilful strategies which are socially manipulative (distracting adults, using excuses, appearing to become physically incapacitated).

Pathology Science which deals with the causes of, and changes produced in the body, by disease.

Peer interactions Interpersonal interactions between children within the same set, age range or school.

Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) Disorders which fit the general description for pervasive developmental disorders, but in which contradictory findings or lack of adequate information mean that the criteria for other pervasive developmental disorders cannot be met.

Pharmacology That part of medical science dealing with knowledge of the action of drugs.

Pharmacotherapy Treatment by means of drugs.

Phenomenology The science of phenomena, ie, those things of which a sense or the mind directly takes note.

Phenotypes The way a person looks or acts because of his or her genes.

Phenylketonuria Genetic disorder that results from lack of a single gene that normally codes for the enzyme required for the body to process phenylalamine, an amino-acid present in most foodstuffs. Affected individuals, unless given a special diet with low levels of phenylalamine, present with developmental delay and often with autism.

Pivotal response training A tool for increasing play skills in children with autism.

Portage An early intervention programme devised to encourage mothers to stimulate deprived children in Wisconsin, USA. It consists of a developmental checklist which focuses attention on strengths and needs and a set of guidelines and suggestions about what to teach next.

Pragmatics Study of language use independent of language structures, rules and principles, which relates to the structure of language and its use.

Prevalence One of the main ways to measure the frequency of a disease in a particular population - it is the total number of cases that are present at any one time - covering both old and new cases.

Prognosis A forecast as to the probable result of an illness, particularly with regard to the prospect of recovery.

Psychiatric disorders Disturbances of the mind.

Psychopharmacotherapy Treatment of psychiatric disorders by psychological methods with the use of drugs.

Psychotherapy Psychological rather than physical method for the treatment of psychological and psychiatric disorders.