Praxis refers to learned motor activities, involving the generation of voluntary movements to perform specific actions or achieve goals.

What are the different types of praxis?

The types of praxis include: Ideomotor praxis: Performing intentional movements or simple gestures.Ideational praxis: Manipulating objects or tools in a sequence of actions, understanding their functions and the order of use. Facial praxis: Executing intentional movements with facial parts like lips, eyes, tongue, eyebrows, and cheeks. Visuoconstructive praxis: Planning and executing movements to organize elements in space, such as drawing or copying figures.

Why is praxis important?

Praxis is essential for daily life, enabling individuals to perform motor activities like walking, dressing, smiling, or talking. Impairments in praxis, known as apraxia, can hinder these fundamental actions.

How can praxis be rehabilitated?

Rehabilitation of praxis involves engaging in targeted activities that focus on specific types of praxis. For example, copying a series of figures can enhance visuoconstructive praxis, while pantomiming tool use can improve ideomotor praxis.

What resources does NeuronUP offer for praxis rehabilitation?

NeuronUP provides a variety of activities designed to rehabilitate different types of praxis, including tasks that focus on visuoconstructive and ideomotor skills.

Praxis

Within praxis, we differentiate between:

Ideomotor praxis: the ability to intentionally perform a simple movement or gesture.
Ideational praxis: the ability to manipulate objects through a sequence of gestures, which involves knowing the object’s function, knowing the action, and knowing the serial order of the acts that lead to that action.
Facial praxis: the ability to voluntarily perform movements or gestures with different parts of the face: lips, eyes, tongue, eyebrows, cheeks, etc.
Visuoconstructive praxis: the ability to plan and perform the movements necessary to organize a series of elements in space to form a final drawing or figure.

What are praxis used for?

As we explained above, praxis is the ability to execute a movement. When we walk, get dressed, or do any type of motor activity, we use this ability, and the inability to perform these actions is called apraxia. Praxis also involves knowing the functions of the objects we want to use, or the acts we want to carry out to use an object or perform an action.

Thus, praxis are a very important part of our day-to-day lives; any action we want to carry out involves this ability. Activities as simple and important as smiling or speaking are abilities that require these skills to be performed, and that people with apraxia cannot do.

NeuronUP exercises to rehabilitate praxis

To work on this ability, at NeuronUP we have designed exercises as necessary as joining the provided pieces until forming an image or moving blocks in an orderly way until achieving the desired image.