French term (edited): praxies visuo-spatio-constructives

"Praxis" of course exists, but I wouldn't use it here in conjunction with visuospatial and constructive. I think the use of "praxies" in the French is not exactly equivalent to the use of "praxis" in English.

There are few ghits (150 or so) for "visuospatial praxis", although at least one example of use by UK authors: http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Aktion=Sho...

See also there is a distinction between visuospatial skills and praxis (especially in the context of dementia):

RANKINIn addition, deterioration in language skills, attention span, praxis (performance of an action), and visuospatial skills are commonly seen. ...
web.indstate.edu/thcme/anderson/DR.html - 9k - Cached - Similar pages

Stroke -- Rao et al. 30 (10): 2167Phillips et al19 assessed memory, language, praxis, visuospatial skills, and abstract reasoning in lower limb amputees and in age- and education-matched ...
stroke.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/30/10/2167 - Similar pages

Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders - Fulltext: Volume 14(3 ...The latter tests memory, language, visuospatial skills, praxis, and orientation. Efficacy data were analyzed for all patients who had a baseline assessment ...
www.alzheimerjournal.com/pt/re/adad/fulltext.00002093-20000... - Similar pages

AACN Advanced Critical Care - Fulltext: Volume 13(1) February 2002 ...Patients with AD have increasing difficulty with calculation, visuospatial skills, praxis (ability to perform purposeful acts), and language. ...
www.aacnclinicalissues.com/pt/re/aacn/fulltext.00044067-200...


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2007-12-30 15:13:02 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

See also visuospatial constructional skills/ability

Visuospatial constructional ability is complex, comprising multiple distinct, but interrelated subcomponents; the ability to combine elements into a meaningful wholes, the ability to discriminate between objects, distinguish between left and right, the ability to understand relationships among objects in space, the ability to adopt various perspectives and to represent and rotate objects mentally; the ability to comprehend and interpret symbolic representations of external space and the ability to work out the solution for non-verbal problems (Cronin-Galomb & Braun, 1997). Having a reliable and valid measure of this ability is important because people with visuospatial deficits can have problems in everyday life which include carrying out mathematical calculations, route finding and map reading, drawing and copying diagrams, assembling objects from parts and fixing up broken objects and items around home. As well as assessing visuospatial constructional skills and mnemonic functions, the RCFT provides information about a child's organisation, planning and problem solving skills (Karapetsas & Kantas, 1991) by evaluating the manner in which the child reproduces the figure.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 9 hrs (2007-12-30 22:44:57 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Carol, I am in the very comfortable position of being able to pick and choose what I translate. I appreciate that this is not the case for most translators. Your ST is awful and makes my brain hurt. I can imagine what state yours is in ;-)

Scientific and medical writing in English has been strongly influenced by the "plain English" brigade over the past years. I don't know if the same can be said for French. In any case, the tendency in English is to simplify and avoid unnecessary jargon (which does not mean correct terminology) which results in a rather less "academic" (esoteric?) tone. Simple expression is obviously not one of your author's priorities!