Apraxia

Abstract

Apraxia is the inability to perform skilled and/or learned movements, not explainable on the basis of more elemental abnormalities. There are several types of apraxia of which the most commonly recognized are (1) limb kinetic apraxia, the loss of hand and finger dexterity; (2) ideomotor apraxia, deficits in pantomiming tool use and gestures with temporal and spatial errors, but with knowledge of the tasks still present; (3) ideational apraxia, the failure to carry out a series of tasks using multiple objects for an intended purpose; and (4) conceptual apraxia, loss of tool knowledge, when tools and objects are used inappropriately. Apraxia can be a feature of both frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer disease, and even a rare presenting manifestation of both. How sensitive apraxia measures would be in early detection is not well known.