Category: M

General term referring to the senses by which a child takes in information for learning, the preferred modality being the sense that a child uses most easily and efficiently. These modalities are sometimes described as VAKT (for visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile); but sometimes the term haptic is used to refer to physical, hands-on learning,…

Children who have disappeared from the home of the parent or parents who legally have custody of them. Because disappearance of children, temporary or permanent, causes enormous anguish, a great deal of furor has surrounded the issue in recent years. More heat than light was often shed, however, until 1990 when a three-year study on…

An error that a person makes in reading, such as dropping a word, adding a word, or substituting one word for another.  

Standing in front of a mirror or other shining surface for an unusually long time; a sign that is generally associated with mental disorders such as schizophrenia.  

A type of medical procedure for female sterilization akin to tubal ligation. A procedure used in tubal ligation, a sterilization method for women. The doctor makes a small incision near the pubic bone and pulls the fallopian tubes through the opening, ties them off with bands or surgical clips, and stitches the incision closed. This…

A common abnormality in which the foot and toes point somewhat inward because of rotation of the leg or foot; generally left to correct itself but in severe cases corrected surgically. A congenital deformity of the foot involving adduction of the forefoot. When the child walks, the foot toes in.  

A common abnormality in which the foot and toes point somewhat outward because of rotation of the leg or foot; generally left to correct itself but in severe cases corrected surgically.  

A group of genetic disorders that cause disruption of the chemical and physical processes by which food is broken down for use in the body. Dozens of such disorders are known, many of them extremely rare, but each of them caused by a defect in the production of a single enzyme or protein. Many of…

Eyes larger than normal. Abnormally enlarged cornea due to a developmental anomaly.  

A variety of procedures that help doctors diagnose ailments and disorders. Some medical tests are entirely benign, uninvasive, and risk-free, such as at the simplest level the placing of a stethoscope on a child’s chest or collecting a urine sample for testing. By contrast, some tests are invasive that is, they involve intruding into the…