ABSTRACT

Apraxia is one of the more classical neuropsychological deficits. The term apraxia was first used by Steinthal in 1871 and Geschwind proposed the following definition in 1975: ‘the apraxias are disorders of the execution of learned movements which cannot be accounted for either by weakness in coordination or sensory loss, nor by incomprehension of or inattention to commands’ (Geschwind, 1975, p. 188). Hugo Karl Liepmann (1920) was mainly responsible for the recognition of the errors made by patients and the means by which they were elicited. Since Steinthal much has been written about apraxia, and for clinicians it is one of the most common consequences of stroke. However, it still remains a difficult concept because there is not one accepted taxonomy or classification of the different forms, there is no consensus on assessment and scoring methods for tests and only a few studies have been conducted investigating the effectiveness of apraxia treatment (van Heugten, 2002). Scientific literature generally distinguishes two types of motor apraxia, which are sometimes labelled the two classic forms of motor or limb apraxia: ideational and ideomotor apraxia. Both types of apraxia may cause severe disabilities in the performance of activities of daily living (ADL), resulting in a negative impact on everyday life.