Action potential

This is an electrical charge that travels down the axon of a neuron to the synaptic terminal where it can increase or decrease the probability that hundreds of intracellular vesicles filled with neurotransmitter will fuse with the pre-synaptic membrane of that neuron and release the neurotransmitter into the synaptic cleft. The action potential occurs when the neuron has been activated and temporarily reverses the electric polarity of the interior membrane from negative to positive.

Amygdala

This is a structure in the forebrain. It is part of the limbic system and plays a major role in emotional memory and the response to threat.

Attachment

A special form of emotional relationship. Attachment involves mutuality, comfort, safety and pleasure for both individuals in the relationship.

Attunement

The ability to read and respond to the communicated needs of another. This involves synchronous and responsive attention to the verbal and non-verbal cues of another.

Autonomic Nervous System

The ANS is that part of the nervous system responsible for regulating the activity of the body’s other organs (e.g., skin, muscle, circulatory, digestive, endocrine).

Axon

This is the tiny fibrous extension of the neuron away from the cell body to other target cells (neurons, muscles, glands).

Bond

A bond is a relationship. Bonds may be of special mutual emotional nature such as an attachment or they may be based upon other emotions (e.g., fear – such as seen in the bond between captor and captive).

Bonding

Any activity, action or behavior that helps establish or maintain a relationship.

CASA

Many communities benefit from the Court-Appointed Special Advocates program. This is a national organization (CASA) with local chapters. These are usually volunteers who receive special training to serve as advocates for children. They work to ensure that the needs and interests of a child being met.

Central Nervous System

This is the portion of the nervous system comprised of the spinal cord and brain.

Cerebellum

This is a large cauliflower-looking structure on the top of the brainstem. This structure is very important in motor movement and motor-vestibular memory and learning.

Cerebral Cortex

This is the outer most layer of the cerebral hemispheres of the brain. The cortex mediates all conscious activity including planning, problem solving, language and speech. It is also involved in perception and voluntary motor activity.

Child Protective Services (CPS)

All states have some form of state agency with the mandate of investigating and protecting children at risk. The primary tasks of CPS include investigating reports of abuse or neglect and provide services to children and families with problems related to child maltreatment.

Cognition

This refers to the mental process by which we become aware of the world and use that information to problem solve and make sense out of the world. It is somewhat oversimplified but cognition refers to thinking and all of the mental processes related to thinking.

Defendant

The person or persons that are being accused by the petition before the court. In most abuse cases, this would be the parent(s). In divorce proceedings, the plaintiff can be considered the party that brings a petition of divorce or the contested element of that process to the court and the defendant is the other spouse.

Disposition Hearing

Following an investigation of abuse and neglect and after the case has been adjudicated, the Court holds a Disposition Hearing. This hearing determines the placement and service needs for the child and family.

Dissociation

The mental process of disengaging from the stimuli in the external environment and attending to inner stimuli. This is a graded mental process that ranges from normative daydreaming to pathological disturbances that may include exclusive focus on an inner fantasy world, loss of identity, disorientation, perceptual disturbances or even disruptions in identity.

Emergency Hearings

This is when the Court decides the need for emergency out-of-home placement of a child who may have been a victim of alleged maltreatment. These hearings must be held between 24 and 72 hours of any emergency placement, depending on State law, once an emergency custody order has been issued.

Expert Witness

There is one major difference between a material witness and an expert witness the expert may give opinion testimony in a substantive area (e.g., sexual assault examination). It is the judge who decides whether the witness qualifies as an expert.

Glia

These are specialized cells that nourish, support and complement the activity of neurons in the brain. Actrocytes are the most common and appear to play a key role in regulating the amount of neurotransmitter in the synapse by taking up excess neurotransmitter. Oligodendrocytes are those glia that specialize to form the myelin sheath around many axonal projections.

Guardian ad Litem

A lawyer or lay person who represents a child. Usually this person considers the best interest of the child and may perform a variety of roles, including those of independent investigator, advocate, advisor, and guardian for the child. A CASA worker may play this role in certain jurisdictions.

Hippocampus

This is a thin structure in the subcortex shaped like a seahorse. It is an important part of the limbic systems and plays a major role in learning, memory and emotional regulation.

Homeostasis

This is the tendency of a physiological system (i.e., a neuron, neural system or the body as a whole) to maintain its internal environment in a stable equilibrium

Hyperarousal

Mental and physical changes caused by alterations in central and peripheral nervous system activation related to perceived or actual threat. This graded response includes increased sensory and perceptual focus on the threat, activation of physiological systems required for survival and corresponding changes in emotional and behavioral functioning.

Hypothalamus

This is a group of important nuclei that mediate many important functions. It is located at the base of the brain and connected to the pituitary by a network of specialized blood vessels. The hypothalamic nuclei are involved in regulating many of the body’s internal organs via hormonal communication. The hypothalamus is a key part of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis that is so important in the stress response.

Limbic System

This is a group of functionally and developmentally linked structures in the brain (including the amygdala, cingulate cortex, hippocampus, septum and basal ganglia). The limbic system is involved in regulation of emotion, memory and processing complex socio-emotional communication.

Neuron

A cell specialized for receiving and transmitting information. While neurons have tremendous heterogeniety in structure, they all have some form of dendritic projections that receive incoming information and axonal projections that communicate to other cells.

Neurotransmitter

A chemical that is release from a neuron that can relay information to another cell by binding to a receptor on the membrane of the target cell.

Petition

A legal document filed with the court. In abuse cases, a petition contains the essential allegations of abuse or neglect but rarely the detailed facts related to the allegations.

Plaintiff

The named person that is bringing the charges or claims. In most cases, both criminal and civil, involving abuse and neglect, the State will bring a petition that the child has been maltreated.

Plasticity

This refers to the remarkable capacity of the brain to change its molecular, microarchitectural and functional organization in response to injury or experience.

Play Therapy

A therapeutic intervention that uses play as the means to help children overcome their difficulties.

Play

The natural activity of children, play is characterized by spontaneity and facilitates growth and development.

Posttraumatic play

Activities (symbolic play, drawings) that reenact a traumatic event in a child’s play.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

A neuropsychiatric disorder that may develop following a traumatic event that includes changes in emotional, behavioral, and physiological functioning.

Review Hearing

These are periodic hearings to review the placement and service plans for children in the custody of the State (usually every 6 months). Federal law has mandated specific guidelines for the frequency and nature of review hearings. Each state has developed regulations responsive to these Federal guidelines.

Strange-Situation procedure

A specialized clinical-research procedure involving eight separations and reunions with an infant and their caregiver designed to determine the nature of the attachments.

Synapse

This is the specialized space between two neurons that is involved in information transfer. Neurotransmitter is released from one neuron enters the synaptic cleft (space) and sends a ‘signal’ to the post-synaptic neuron by occupying that receptor’s receptors.

Thalamus

This is a paired structure of two tiny egg-shaped structures in the diencephalon. This structure is a crucial area for integrating and organizing sensory information that comes into the brain. In the thalamus, this information is processed and forwarded to the key cortical areas where more processing and integrating will take place.

Trauma

A psychologically distressing event that is outside the range of usual human experience, often involving a sense of intense fear, terror and helplessness.

Use-dependent

This refers to the specific changes in neurons and neural systems following activation. Repetitive, patterned stimulation alters the organization and functioning of neurons and neural systems and, thereby, the brain.