Category: W

  • Writing

    The formation of letters, first taught to children in elementary school as printing (manuscript writing), with each letter formed separately, and later as cursive writing, in which letters are joined. The Palmer method is the traditional approach to teaching children how to write legibly. Students with problems encoding, such as those with learning disabilities, need…

  • Word blindness

    Alternate term for alexia, an extreme form of dyslexia, or difficulty in reading. Also known as alexia. A condition in which, as the result of disease in the brain, a person becomes unable to associate words with their proper meanings, although he or she may be quite able to spell them. An inability to understand…

  • Witch’s milk

    Popular name for the milk sometimes produced by a newborn’s enlarged breasts in response to the mother’s hormones. Milklike substance secreted from the breast of a newborn, caused by lactating hormones present in the maternal circulation. Milk secreted by the newly born infant’s breast, stimulated by the lactating hormone circulating in the mother. The whitish…

  • Water loss

    Alternate term for dehydration, in infants a possible medical emergency.  

  • Walking

    Walking

    Movement of the body by lifting the feet alternately in a chosen direction, with one foot returning to the ground before the next leaves it, a complicated set of movements controlled by the brain in response to the body’s signals about changes in position and balance (as monitored by the inner ear). Newborn infants exhibit…

  • Wage attachment

    Withholding of money from a person’s paycheck to pay off debts, such as to pay child support or alimony. In some states, the wage attachment law applies automatically to everyone who has been ordered to pay child support. Sometimes an obligated parent may have wages voluntarily withheld to pay for child support.  

  • Wyburn-Mason syndrome

    Wyburn-Mason syndrome, also known as Bonnet- Dechaume-BIanc syndrome, is a rare condition that is characterized by arteriovenous malformations (i.e., abnormal communication between the arteries and veins) in the central nervous system and the retina. These malformations take the form of arteriovenous aneurysms, which are widenings of the walls of an artery and a vein with…

  • Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome

    Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome is an extremely rare chromosomal disorder. It affects Chromosome 4, usually in the form of a partial deletion (absence of part of the short arm of Chromosome 4). The deletion of chromosomal material results in certain facial dysmorphic features and neurological manifestations. However, the amount of chromosomal material deleted varies from individual to…

  • Winchester syndrome

    Winchester syndrome is thought to be a rare form of the mucopolysaccharidoses, a group of inherited metabolic dis¬ orders that are caused by a deficiency of specific lysosomal enzymes. These enzymes are needed to break down the long chains of sugar molecules (mucopolysaccharides) used to build connective tissues and organs in the body. As with…

  • Wilms tumor

    Wilms tumor (also known as nephroblastoma) is a malignant renal tumor and is the second most common extracranial solid tumor in children. In 80-90% of the cases, it occurs in the renal blastoma tissue. It usually is characterized by an asymptomatic abdominal mass and abdominal swelling. Malignant neoplasm of the kidney, occurring in young children;…