rehabilitation

n. the process of bringing an individual to a condition of health or useful and constructive activity, restoring to the fullest possible degree his or her independence, well-being, and level of functioning following injury, disability, or disorder. It involves providing appropriate resources, such as treatment or training, to enable such a person (e.g., one who has had a stroke) to redevelop skills and abilities he or she had acquired previously or to compensate for their loss. Compare habilitation.

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Psychology term of the day

December 19th 2024

verbal deprivation hypothesis

the hypothesis that children who are denied regular experience of an elaborated code of language—that is, a more formal use of language involving complex constructions and an unpredictable vocabulary—may develop an educational and even cognitive deficit. The concept is controversial as it has been associated with the view that nonstandard or vernacular forms of a language (e.g., Black English) are inherently inferior. The idea that nonstandard forms inhibit higher level cognitive processes (e.g., abstract reasoning) is now discredited, but concerns remain that lack of early exposure to the more formal codes of a language appears to correlate with educational underachievement. [proposed in 1973 by British sociologist Basil Bernstein (1924–2000)]