Resource Guide Glossary

Glossary of Terms

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Vegetative State	Return of wakefulness but not accompanied by cognitive function; eyes open to verbal stimuli; does not localize motor responses; autonomic function preserved. Sleep-wake cycles exist.
Ventricles	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.
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 impaired balance.
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 Program	A service offered by a program to deal with an individual who is blind. The blindness may have occurred prior to a head injury or as a result of a head injury.
Vocational Counselor	See Rehabilitation Counselor.
Voluntary Or Volitional Movement	Refers to movement purposefully made by the person.
V.R.S.	Vocational Rehabilitation Services (Ontario). Click here for the printable "Glossary of Terms" Material for the glossary was provided by the Ontario Brain Injury Association (OBIA).