APRAXIA   [ back to Glossary Index ]
Apraxia is loss of ability to voluntarily perform skilled movements such as tying one's shoe, hitting a baseball or screwing in a bolt. It results from brain damage affecting the command signals or execution patterns for physical actions, and may involve the motor strip, the basal ganglia or cerebellum. Apraxics continue to know how to perform an activity and can describe "how" flawlessly, but once given the tools to do the activity they are unable to carry it out. Occupational therapy is used to help them. Apraxics can be tricked into performing activities which they are unable to do while trying consciously.