Traumatic Brain Injury
Glossary R - Z
brain injury terms:
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ada terms
insurance terms
R.T. - See Respiratory Therapist.
Random Movement - An action or process of moving without obvious aim, purpose, or reason.
Range of Motion (ROM) - Refers to movement of a joint (important to prevent contractures).
Range of Motion, Active - The muscles around the joint do the work to move it.
Range of Motion, Passive - Movement of a joint by means other than contraction of the muscles around that joint; e.g., someone else moves the joint.
Reasoning, Abstract - Mode of thinking in which the individual recognizes a phrase that has multiple meanings and selects the meaning most appropriate to a given situation. The term "abstract" typically refers to concepts not readily apparent from the physical attributes of an object or situation.
Reasoning, Association - A skill dependent on a person's ability to determine the relationship between objects and concepts. A patient with impairment may touch a hot stove, failing to realize that pain is associated with touching a heated burner. Similarly, a patient given a knife, spoon, fork, and baseball may not be able to discriminate which of the objects "does not belong."
Reasoning, Categorization - The ability to sort or group objects and concepts based on the shared attribute(s) and apply a label depicting the attribute(s). Task difficulty is greater in circumstances requiring formulation of new categories. Impaired patients may have difficulty sorting clothes or choosing items for a balanced meal. Categorization is similar to association in that patients must understand the relationship between objects or concepts. However, categorization requires an extra step; the ability to provide a label describing the group of objects or concepts.
Reasoning, Cause and Effect - The ability to perceive and anticipate the consequences of a given action or statement. For example, a patient may sit for a long period in a darkened room without realizing that flipping a light switch will cause the light to turn on. A patient may turn the oven up to make a cake cook faster, not realizing that the increased heat will simply cause the food to burn.
Reasoning, Concrete - The ability to understand the literal meaning of a phrase.
Reasoning, Deductive - Drawing conclusions based upon premises or general principles in a step-by-step manner.
Reasoning, Generalization - The ability to take information, rules and strategies learned about one situation and apply them appropriately to other, similar situations. For example, a patient who learns to lock his wheelchair brakes in physical therapy may not lock the brakes while sitting in his room.
Reasoning, Inductive - Awareness of one's behavior and the accuracy or appropriateness of one's performance. Usually automatic and on-going.
Reasoning, Organization - The ability to arrange or group information in a manner which improves task efficiency. Persons who lack organizational skills often demonstrate a sense of purposelessness and have difficulty effectively utilizing nonstructured time. They have difficulty completing a puzzle or arranging materials to cook or shower.
Reasoning, Problem-Solving - The ability to analyze information related to a given situation and generate appropriate response options. Problem-solving is a sequential process that typically proceeds as follows: identification of problem; generation of response options; evaluation of response option appropriateness; selection and testing of first option; analysis as to whether solution has been reached. A patient/client may discontinue making a cup of coffee because the sugar bowl is empty, even though sugar is readily available in a nearby cabinet. A patient/client may easily navigate his way to a room crowded with furniture, but request staff assistance to navigate his way out.
Reasoning, Sequencing - The ability to organize information or objects according to specified rules, or the ability to arrange information or objects in a logical, progressive manner. Nearly every activity, including work and leisure tasks, requires sequencing. For example, in cooking certain foods it is important that ingredients be added and mixed in a specified order; in dressing, undergarments must be put on prior to outer-garments.
Recreation Therapist - Individual within the facility responsible for developing a program to assist persons with disabilities plan and manage their leisure activities; may also schedule specific activities and coordinate the program with existing community resources.
Referral - The process of directing a client to an agency for services.
Referral Data - Data about the client obtained from other specialists, persons, and agencies that are obtained verbally or through such documents as psychometrics, terminal reports, medical reports, intake, and social service reports.
Referral Source - That person or facility sending a client for services. This includes, but is not limited to, service agencies such as vocational rehabilitation, physicians, industry, insurance companies, employment agencies, community action groups, and potential clients themselves.
Referring Agency - The agency which sends or directs the client for services.
Refrig Bag - Device used to help keep males dry when they are incontinent. It is a small plastic bag filled with absorbent tissue that is secured around the penis.
Registry - A clinical or service-oriented system used to: 1) identify patients eligible for services, 2) evaluate treatment methods, and 3) monitor patient outcomes.
Rehabilitation - Comprehensive program to reduce/overcome deficits following injury or illness, and to assist the individual to attain the optimal level of mental and physical disability.
Rehabilitation Counselor - Also called Vocational Counselor. A specialist in social and vocational issues who helps the patient develop the skills and aptitudes necessary for return to productive activity and the community.
Rehabilitation Engineering - Use of technical advances, physics, computer science and other scientific devices to aid in improving the quality of life for the person with a disability, e.g., computerized communication boards, mechanically-assisted wheelchairs.
Rehabilitation Facility - Agency of multiple, coordinated services designed to minimize for the individual the disabling effects of one's physical, mental, social, and/or vocational difficulties and to help realize individual potential.
Rehabilitation Nurse - A nurse specializing in rehabilitation techniques as well as basic nursing care. Nurses assist the patient and family in acquiring new information, developing skills, achieving competence and exhibiting behaviors that continue to the attainment of a healthy state.
Rehabilitation Objective - A goal of the comprehensive restoration of an individual to the best possible level of functioning following a physical, mental, or emotional disorder.
Rehabilitation Process - A planned, orderly sequence of services related to the total needs of the person with a disability and designed to assist one to realize maximum potential for useful and productive activity.
Rehabilitation Team - An organized group of health care specialists, who focus on providing a logical, practical and complete rehabilitation plan for the patient. Upon admission to the rehabilitation hospital, the patient is evaluated by each team member who defines both short-term and long-term goals for the patient's rehabilitation. Meetings of the rehabilitation team (sometimes called "rounds") are held regularly to discuss the patient's progress and, if necessary, to redefine the goals. Additional family conferences may also be scheduled.
Remediation - The process of decreasing a disability by challenging the individual to improve deficient skills.
Report-Vocational Evaluation - A well planned, carefully written means of communicating vital vocational information about a client. It is a studied, permanent record of significant vocational data observed as a client and an evaluator interact in various types of work or work-like situations. It puts the plan, action, findings, logic, and interpretation of the evaluation in writing. It usually includes a description of the client's work traits and how they compare to minimal requirements of selected jobs or work areas, physical capacities, learning ability, personal characteristics, social competence, other vocational factors, and recommendation for further services. It may also provide a prescriptive-descriptive sequence of experiences which are aimed at maximizing an individual's vocational potential.
Respirator/Ventilator - A machine that does the breathing work for the unresponsive patient. It serves to deliver air in the appropriate percentage of oxygen and at the appropriate rate. The air is also humidified by the respirator.
Respiratory Therapist - The respiratory therapist is concerned with helping the patient breathe adequately by use of various machines as well as techniques to keep the airway clear of secretions.
Respite Care - A means for taking over the care of a patient temporarily (a few hours up to a few days) to provide a period of relief for the primary caregiver.
Response Control - Development of the ability to recognize and suppress abnormal behaviors in one's self. Two behaviors fall within this category: impulse control, and perseveration.
Retrograde Amnesia - Inability to recall events that occurred prior to the accident; may be a specific span of time or type of information.
S.T. - See Speech and Hearing Therapy.
Scanning - The active search of the environment for information; usually refers to "visual scanning" which is a skill used in reading, driving and many other daily activities.
Scotoma - Area of blindness of varying size anywhere within the visual fields.
Secondary Condition - People with disabling conditions are often at risk of developing secondary conditions that can result in further deterioration in health status, functional capacity, and quality of life. Secondary conditions are causally related to a primary disabling condition and include, among others, contractures, physical deconditioning, mental depression, cardiopulmonary conditions and decubitus ulcers.
Secondary Gain - The benefit, resources or advantages, that comes from another, primary, event or circumstance.
Secondary Insult - Secondary or delayed brain injury; for traumatic brain injury, includes all events other than the mechanical injury sustained at the time of impact. Secondary phenomena may be divided into systemic and intracranial insults. Systemic insults include hypoxemia, anemia, hypotension, hypercarbia, hyperthermia, and electrolyte imbalance.
Seizure - An uncontrolled discharge of nerve cells which may spread to other cells nearby or throughout the entire brain. It usually lasts only a few minutes. It may be associated with loss of consciousness, loss of bowel and bladder control and tremors. May also cause aggression or other behavioral change.
Selective Attention - Ability to focus on the most important aspect of a situation without becoming distracted.
Selective Placement - Work situation where provisions are made by the employer to meet the client's special needs.
Sensation - Feeling stimuli which activate sensory organs of the body, such as touch, temperature, pressure and pain. Also seeing, hearing, smelling and tasting.
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Sensorimotor - Refers to all aspects of movement and sensation and the interaction of the two.
Sensory Deprivation - A situation or environment where usual sensory stimuli, such as noise and light, as well as human contact, are absent or substantially decreased. In the case of noise, it may be masked by a continuous dull noise.
Sensory Integration - Interaction of two or more sensory processes in a manner that enhances the adaptiveness of the brain.
Sensory Stimulation - Arousing the brain through any of the senses.
Sequencing - Reading, listening, expressing thoughts, describing events or contracting muscles in an orderly and meaningful manner.
Sexuality Counseling - Using supportive techniques and special methods to help brain-injured survivors and their families deal with special and intimate relationship issues.
Sheltered Workshop - A work setting certified as such by the Wage & Hour Division. It provides transitional and/or long-term employment in a controlled and protected working environment for those who are unable either to compete or to function in the open job market due to their disabilities. May provide vocational evaluation and work adjustment services.
Shock, Circulatory - A clinical condition characterized by signs and symptoms which arise when the cardiac output is insufficient to fill the arterial tree with blood under sufficient pressure to provide organs and tissues with adequate blood flow.
Shunt - A procedure to draw off excessive fluid in the brain. A surgically-placed tube running from the ventricles which deposits fluid into either the abdominal cavity, heart or large veins of the neck.
Simulated Job Station - A work setting which has the following characteristics: 1) replication of all aspects of a job (not limited to job tasks) or a work process as realistically as possible; 2) does not necessarily require payment to the client; 3) the setting is controlled by the evaluator; and 4) it is located within the evaluation facility.
Single Trait Work Samples - Assesses a single worker trait or characteristic. It may have relevance to a specific job or many jobs, but it is intended to assess a single, isolated factor.
Skill Remediation - A process in which the aim is to improve skills that have been imperfectly or inadequately learned.
Skill Training - Teaching an individual how to perform the operations of a particular occupation; distinguished from personal adjustment training, work adjustment, and the acquisition of basic employment skills.
Skull Fracture - The breaking of the bones surrounding the brain. A depressed skull fracture is one in which the broken bone exerts pressure on the brain.
Small Stature - Used to refer to very small persons; more socially acceptable than the terms dwarf or midget. Dwarfism is an accepted medical term, but it should not be used in general conversation.
Social Adjustment Group - A structured group experience that offers individuals opportunities for the redirection of energies toward positive social goals, raising of levels of aspiration, and/or reduction of maladaptive behavior patterns.
Social Adjustment Training - Structured program designed to assist the disabled individual to interact with individuals and groups within the community in an acceptable manner.
Social Assessment - A social assessment includes general background data, description of family or other support group resources including emotional, financial and environmental resources, their availability to the patient, and the patient's position and role in the family (child, parent, spouse) and educational and employment history. Also included are such topics as interests, lifestyle, friendships, goals, ambitions, personality traits, positive and/or negative relationships and previous problems (such as medical, psychiatric, drug abuse, alcohol). The assessment attempts to reveal the patient's and the family's level of understanding of the patient's current condition, probable long-range outcome, expectations of rehabilitation, degree of disruption in family functioning that the disability has produced, and the ability and interest of the patient and family members to adjust to changed circumstances.
Social Worker - The social worker serves as a liaison between the professional team and other parties concerned with the patient, including: the family, funding sources, friends and representatives of past or future placements. An important role of the social worker is to help ensure that if home placement does not materialize, or if home placement is not indicated, the social worker provides assistance to the patient and family for finding other alternatives.
Societal Limitation - Restriction, attributable to social policy barriers (structural or attitudinal), which limits fulfillment of roles or denies access to services and opportunities that are associated with full participation in society.
Somatic - Relating to, or affecting the body.
Somatosensory - Sensory activity having its origin elsewhere than in the special sense organs (such as eyes and ears) and conveying information to the brain about the state of the body proper and its immediate movement.
"Space Boots" (Spenco Boots) - Padded support devices made of lamb's wool used to position the feet and ankles of the patient. Without this support and alignment, patients who are unconscious for long periods may develop deformities limiting future movement.
Spasm - An involuntary and abnormal muscular contraction; a sudden violent and temporary effect or motion.
Spasticity - An involuntary increase in muscle tone (tension) that occurs following injury to the brain or spinal cord, causing the muscles to resist being moved. Characteristics may include increase in deep tendon reflexes, resistance to passive stretch, clasp knife phenomenon, and clonus.
Spatial Ability - Ability to perceive the construction of an object in both two and three dimensions. Spatial ability has four components: the ability to perceive a static figure in different positions, the ability to interpret and duplicate the movements between various parts of a figure, the ability to perceive the relationship between an object and a person's own body sphere, and the ability to interpret the person's body as an object in space.
Special - Describes that which is different or uncommon about any person. This term should not be used to describe persons with disabilities (except when citing laws or regulations).
Specialty Services - Categories identified by the National Head Injury Foundation (NHIF) to classify frequently requested services. These services include: respirator-dependent, substance abuse, driver education, evaluation, visually-impaired and Spanish translation.
Specific Learning Disability - Permanent condition that affects the way individuals with average or above average intelligence take in, retain, and express information. The term "specific" is preferred, because it emphasizes that only certain learning processes are affected.
Speech and Hearing Therapist - The speech pathologist and audiologist identifies problem areas of visual (seeing) and auditory (hearing) comprehension, attention, memory (recent and past), language skills, writing skills and reading skills. The information gathered by the speech and hearing specialist is valuable to other team members; for example, whether or not to use reading as a means of communicating with the patient. The speech therapist provides instruction and practice in improving skills in comprehension and communication.
Speech Disorder - A condition where a person has limited or difficult speech patterns.
Speech - Oral expression of language.
Speech-language Pathology Services - A continuum of services including prevention, identification, diagnosis, consultation, and treatment of patients regarding speech, language, oral an pharyngeal sensorimotor function.
Spontaneous Movement - A reaction resulting from a natural impulse without obvious planning or premeditation.
Spontaneous Recovery - The recovery which occurs as damage to body tissues heals. This type of recovery occurs with or without rehabilitation and it is very difficult to know how much improvement is spontaneous and how much is due to rehabilitative interventions. However, when the recovery is guided by an experienced rehabilitation team, complications can be anticipated and minimized; the return of function can be channeled in useful directions and in progressive steps so that the eventual outcome is the best that is possible.
Staff Conferences (Staffing) - Formal of informal conferences held by the staff working with a client to review progress of the individual, develop further plans, maintain integration and coordination of the client's programs, and to make recommendations as to further action needed by and for the client.
Standards - A set of criteria used to measure the merit of an agency's program.
Statis Epilepticus - Continuous seizures; may produce permanent brain damage.
Stimulus - That which causes sensation (i.e., light for vision, salt for taste, sound for hearing, etc.). When a patient begins to emerge from a coma, an organized program of controlled stimulation is sometimes used to begin "exercising" the brain. However, when a patient becomes agitated, the amount and intensity of stimulation should be limited (e.g., only one task for one sense at a time).
Strabismus, External - Outward turning of the eye which may be due to a lesion of the oculomotor nerve (III) causing paralysis of the medial rectus muscle.
Strabismus, Internal - Inward turning of the eye which may be due to a lesion of the abducens nerve (VI) causing paralysis of the lateral rectus muscle.
Stupor - Deep sleep; unresponsive but can be awakened with repeated, noxious stimulation. Awareness is depressed but present.
Subacute - The prefix "sub" means under, below, near or less than complete; "acute" means sharp, severe; having a sudden onset, sharp rise and short course. Thus, a subacute condition is one which has not reached, or has already passed through, the acute phase.
Subacute Program - See Program/Service Types.
Subarachnoid Screw - Also Subarachnoid Bolt.A device for measuring intracranial pressure which is screwed through a hole in the skull and rests on the surface of the brain.
Subdural - Beneath the dura (tough membrane) covering the brain and spinal cord.
Substance Abuse Program - A service offered by an agency to deal with chemical dependency of an individual. The dependency may have occurred prior to the brain injury or subsequent to the brain injury.
Supervision, Close-Distant - Refers to the assistance provided when an individual requires no physical help but requires another person nearby for safety. Close Supervision: Assistant stands close to person, ready to give assistance if needed. Distant Supervision: Assistant can see the person and offer verbal assistance but is not close enough to touch the person.
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Supine - Lying on one's back.
Support Group - A group established for families and/or persons with disabilities to discuss the problems they may be having in coping with their life situation and to seek solutions to these problems.
Support Hose - Anti-embolic stockings. Tight knee or thigh-high stockings that support the leg muscles and thus help prevent pooling of blood in veins of the legs.
Supported Environment - Competitive work in integrated work settings for individuals with severe disabilities for whom competitive employment has not traditionally occurred, or for whom competitive employment has been interrupted as a result of severe disability, and who, because of the disability, need ongoing support services to perform that work.
Suppository - Medicine contained in a capsule which is inserted into the rectum so that the medicine can be absorbed into the blood stream.
Surveillance System - A means of gathering data; generally has public health emphasis containing only descriptive information used to assess the magnitude of particular types of health problems, and is geared toward prevention of the problem.
Swanz-Ganz Catheter - A catheter (tube) similar to the central venous pressure (CVP) line. It is used to measure blood pressure and blood gas concentrations in the right side of the heart, in vessels of the lungs and in the left side of the heart.
Synergy (movement) - Combined action of two or more muscles to form a pattern of movement.
Synthesizing - The process by which information from all resources is combined into a meaningful whole to determine approaches and directions.
Tactile Defensiveness - Being overly sensitive to touch; withdrawing, crying, yelling or striking when one is touched.
Tactile Discrimination - The ability to differentiate information received through the sense of touch. Sharp/dull discrimination - ability to distinguish between sharp and dull stimuli; Two-point discrimination - the ability to recognize two points applied to the skin simultaneously as distinct from one single point.
Top of PageTask Analysis - Breakdown of a particular job into its component parts; information gained from task analysis can be utilized to develop training curricula or to price a product or service.
Team - A number of persons associated together in work or activity. A team of health care professionals pools the talents of individuals to help the patient or client achieve the best result.
Team, Interdisciplinary - A type of team functioning in which the persons representing each discipline (field of study) have a voice in establishing priorities for the goals to be undertaken by members of the team.
Team, Multidisciplinary - A type of team functioning in which the persons representing each discipline (field of study) set their own goals for evaluating and treating the patient/client and inform other team members of the results as they occur.
Team, Transdisciplinary - A type of team functioning in which the persons representing each discipline (field of study) are encouraged to deal with problems or issues as they occur during daily interactions with the patient or client even though the intervention used may fall within the primary domain of another discipline.
TEDS - See Support Hose.
Telegraphic Speech - Speech which sounds like a telegram. Only the main words of a sentence (nouns, verbs) are present; the small words (ifs, ands, buts,) are missing. This type of speech often gets the message across.
Temperament - Personal traits consisting of the individual's characteristic mode or inclination of emotional response.
Temporal Lobes - There are two temporal lobes, one on each side of the brain located at about the level of the ears. These lobes allow a person to tell one smell from another and one sound from another. They also help in sorting new information and are believed to be responsible for short-term memory.
Right Lobe - Mainly involved in visual memory (i.e., memory for pictures and faces).
Left Lobe - Mainly involved in verbal memory (i.e., memory for words and names).
Third Party Funding - Reimbursement for services rendered to a person in which an entity other than the recipient of the services is responsible for the payments, i.e., an insurance company.
Thrombus - Blood clot.
Time Study - Detailed, scientific analysis of time taken by a worker to perform each segment of a specific task/job, and the hand and body movements made in performing the task/job. Such a study may be made for the purpose of determining the most efficient method for doing the task/job, or to evaluate the task/job to establish a work standard or to set a wage.
Timed Voiding - Bladder training program where the person goes to the toilet at regular intervals whether feeling the urge to urinate or not. The goal is bladder continence through better control and timing.
Tone, Muscle - The tension in resting muscles and the amount of resistance that is felt when a muscle is moved.
Tracheostomy - A temporary surgical opening at the front of the throat providing access to the trachea or windpipe to assist in breathing.
Tracking, Visual - Visually following an object as it moves through space.
Traction - A weighted traction setup composed of pulleys and lines used in the care of the patient with broken leg or spine. After the repair of the fractures and application of the appropriate casts, weights are used to keep the bones correctly aligned.
Training Environment - Refers to the setting in which the emphasis on the learning and acquisition of skills or competencies.
Transdisciplinary - See Team.
Transducer - A sensitive electronic device which detects bodily functions, such as heart rate and blood pressure, and transmits signals representing those functions to a monitor so that they can be observed.
Transfer Program - Moving one's body between wheelchair and bed, toilet, mat, or car with or without the assistance of another person.
Transitional Living - See Program/Service Type.
Treatment Modalities - Various therapy techniques.
Treatment Protocol - The written treatment plan specifying the procedures to be followed by the treatment team.
Tremor, Intention - Course, rhythmical movements of a body part that become intensified the harder one tries to control them.
Tremor, Resting - Rhythmical movements present at rest and may be diminished during voluntary movement.
Unconditional Positive Regard - Absolute or unreserved acceptance and respect.
Unilateral Neglect - Paying little or no attention to things on one side of the body. This usually occurs on the side opposite from the location of the injury to the brain because nerve fibers from the brain typically cross before innervating body structures. In extreme cases, the patient may not bathe, dress or acknowledge one side of the body.
Unilateral - Pertaining to only one side.
Urinary Tract Infection - When bacteria have reproduced to a large number in the bladder. This can cause fever, chills, burning on urination, urgency, frequency, incontinence or foul-smelling urine.
Urodrain - A type of external urine-collecting device for men.
Vegetative State - Return of wakefulness but not accompanied by cognitive function; eyes open to verbal stimuli; does not localize motor responses; autonomic functions preserved. Sleep-wake cycles exist. See Persistent Vegetative State.
Ventricles, Brain - Four natural cavities in the brain which are filled with cerebrospinal fluid. The outline of one or more of these cavities may change when a space-occupying lesion (hemorrhage, tumor) has developed in a lobe of the brain.
Ventriculostomy - A procedure for measuring intracranial pressure by placing a measuring device within one of the fluid-filled, hollow chambers of the brain.
Verbal Ability - Composed of verbal understanding and verbal fluency. Verbal understanding is the ability of an individual to understand the subtleties and meaning of words. Verbal fluency is the ability to imagine, process and say words without associating them with any particular object. Also the ability to communicate by talking, writing, listening and reading.
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Verbal Apraxia - Impaired control of proper sequencing of muscles used in speech (tongue, lips, jaw muscles, vocal cords). These muscles are not weak but their control is defective. Speech is labored and characterized by sound reversals, additions and word approximations.
Verbal Fluency - The ability to produce words.
Verbal Request - Asking a person for a specified response.
Vestibular - Pertaining to the vestibular system in the middle ear and the brain which senses movements of the head. Disorders of the vestibular system can lead to dizziness, poor regulation of postural muscle tone and inability to detect quick movements of the head.
Visual Field Defect - Inability to see objects located in a specific region of the field of view ordinarily received by each eye. Often the blind region includes everything in the right half or left half of the visual field.
Visual Imagery - The use of mental pictures to aid in recall.
Visual Perception - The ability to recognize and discriminate between visual stimuli and to interpret these stimuli through association with earlier experiences. For example, to separate a figure from a background, to synthesize the contents of a picture and to interpret the invariability of an object which is seen from different directions.
Visually-Impaired - Generic term preferred by some individuals to refer to all degrees of vision loss.
Visually-Impaired Program - A service offered by a program to deal with an individual who is blind. The blindness may have occurred prior to a brain injury or as a result of a brain injury.
Vocation - A summons or strong inclination to a particular state or course of action grounded in interest, ability, need, and opportunities; the work in which a person is regularly employed.
Vocational Adjustment Center - A rehabilitation facility that is to facilitate the transition to employment of vocationally disadvantaged persons who experience emotional, mental, physical or social disability. Its vocational treatment goals may be an improvement in: 1.) the capacity to function productively, 2.) the ability to secure appropriate employment, or 3.) the capacity to adapt on the job. These changes may be accomplished by increasing psychological work capacity, by modifying a client's vocational pattern to conform to the stereotype of a good worker (the work personality), or by developing personality characteristics which are needed to adjust to the requirements of the job.
Vocational Counseling - Process of assisting a person to understand vocational liabilities and assets, provide occupational information to assist in choosing an occupation suitable to one's interests and liabilities.
Vocational Counselor - One who advises a client regarding vocational options. See Rehabilitation Counselor.
Vocational Education - Courses of study, under supervision and control, which lead to proficiency in specific trades or business occupations.
Vocational Evaluation - Those services provided to accomplish vocational evaluation according to established standards. A comprehensive process that systematically utilizes work, real or simulated, as the focal point for assessment and vocational exploration, the purpose of which is to assist individuals in vocational development. Vocational evaluation incorporates medical, psychological, social, vocational, educational, cultural and economic data in the attainment of the goals of the evaluation program.
Vocational Evaluation Department - A program organized to provide vocational evaluation services as established by standards.
Vocational Evaluation Program Manager (Case Manager) - The professional responsible for the entire evaluation program of an individual client. This includes reviewing all referral information, orientation of the client, scheduling services, planning the individual program, maintaining integration and coordination in his or her program, maintaining a written case record, holding formal and informal conferences as appropriate, making the termination decision, preparing the final report and follow up.
Vocational Evaluation Unit (Department) - Is the staff, plant, and equipment necessary to carry out a vocational evaluation program.
Vocational Evaluator - The individual staff member responsible for carrying out a vocational evaluation.
Vocational Objective - A specific, job-related, time-oriented statement which is set forth at the beginning of, and may be modified during, the client's rehabilitation program.
Vocational Rehabilitation Process - Providing, in a coordinate manner, those services deemed appropriate to the needs of a person with a disability, and designed to achieve objectives directed toward the realization of the individual's maximum physical, social, mental and vocational potential
Vocational Training - The learning and acquisition of skills or competencies whose ultimate objective is the preparation of students for employment.
Voluntary of Volitional Movement - Refers to movement purposefully made by the person.
Volunteer - Individual who freely contributes time and talents to an agency engaged in providing services to people, without remuneration (pay) commensurate with the value of services rendered by the volunteer.
Wagner O'Day - Common name for Public Law 92-28 which directs the purchase by the Federal Government of selected commodities and services from qualified workshops serving blind and other severely disabled individuals, with the objective of increasing the employment opportunities for these individuals.
Word Retrieval Deficit - Difficulty recalling a specific word or words.
Work Activity Center - A workshop, or physically-separate department of a workshop, having a planned, identifiable program designed exclusively to provide therapeutic activity for workers whose physical or mental impairment is so severe as to make their production inconsequential.
Work Adjustment - An individualized, structured and planned, closely supervised, remedial work experience designed to promote the acquisition of good work habits, to increase physical and emotional tolerance for work activity and interpersonal relationships, and to modify aptitudes and behaviors which inhibit the satisfactory performance of work.
Work Aptitude - One's natural ability or general suitability to work; sometimes refers to a measure of that ability.
Work Environment/Work Setting - Surroundings in, and the conditions under which, an individual performs occupational duties including lighting, equipment, cleanliness and type of supervision.
Work Families - See Job Clusters.
Work Habits - Those aspects of behavior in a work setting that enable a person to meet the demands of a job in accordance to employment standards. This includes such areas as: attendance, punctuality, hygiene, social behavior, team work, cooperation, ability to accept constructive criticism, ability to accept supervision, effort, initiative, perseverance, dependability, meeting work schedules, attention to detail, housekeeping, neatness in work performed, careful with materials and property, and safety awareness.
Work, Light - Lifting 20 pounds maximum with frequent lifting and/or carrying of objects weighing up to ten pounds; or requiring walking or standing to a significant degree (about six hours a day); or requiring sitting most of the time, but entailing pushing and pulling on arm or leg controls.
Work, Medium - Equivalent to lifting 50 pounds maximum with frequent lifting and/or carrying of objects weighing up to 25 pounds.
Work Personality - The individual's traits, habits, and attitudes related to the concept of employment, and one's reaction to that concept.
Work Sample - A well-defined work activity involving tasks, materials and tools which are identical or similar to those in an actual job or cluster of jobs. It is used to assess an individual's vocational aptitude, worker characteristics, and vocational interest. See also: Job Task.
Work Sample Norms In Industrial Setting - A work sample for which the available norms include the empirical norm reference of a population employed in a competitive industrial setting.
Work, Sedentary - Equivalent to lifting ten pounds maximum with occasional lifting and/or carrying small objects. While mostly done sitting, a certain amount of walking and standing is often necessary in carrying out job duties.
Work Station - Physical site where a production operation is performed; also called Job Station.
Work Tolerance - Ability to sustain a work effort for a prolonged period of time; ability to maintain a steady flow of production at an acceptable pace and acceptable level of quality; ability to handle a certain amount of pressure.
Worker Functions - The functioning of the worker in the relationship to a specific set of tasks. A combination of the highest function which the worker performs in relation to data, people, and things, expresses the total level of complexity of the job/worker situation.
Worker Trait - The requirements made of the worker in terms of aptitudes, general educational development, vocational preparation, physical demands, and personal traits. These are reflected in: training time, aptitudes, temperaments, interests, physical demands, and environmental conditions.
Worker's Compensation - See Terms and Definitions Related to Insurance.
Workmen's Compensation - Insurance programs, under state auspices or control, except for Federal employees and certain maritime workers, to provide financial resources for medical care and lost wages and earning power resulting from industrial accidents, and from illnesses resulting from employment.
