Clonus is an involuntary tendon reflex that causes repeated flexion and extension of the foot. Ankle clonus is tested by rapidly flexing the foot upward.

Cerebellar ataxia refers to ataxia due to dysfunction of the cerebellum. This causes a variety of elementary neurological deficits including asynergy (lack of coordination between muscles, limbs and joints), dysmetria (lack of ability to judge distances that can lead to under- or overshoot in grasping movements), and dysdiadochokinesia (inability to perform rapid movements requiring antagonizing muscle groups to be switched on and off repeatedly).

Dysarthric speech is a general description referring to a neurological speech disorder characterized by poor articulation. Depending on the involved neurological structures, dysarthria may be further classified as spastic, flaccid, ataxic, hyperkinetic and hypokinetic, or mixed.

Hyperreflexia is the presence of hyperactive stretch reflexes of the muscles.

A type of ataxia characterized by the inability to carry out movements with the correct range and motion across the plane of more than one joint related to incorrect estimation of the distances required for targeted movements.

A type of ataxia characterized by the impairment of the ability to perform rapidly alternating movements, such as pronating and supinating his or her hand on the dorsum of the other hand as rapidly as possible.

Cerebellar hypoplasia is a descriptive term implying a cerebellum with a reduced volume, but a normal shape and is stable over time.

Facial myokymia is a fine fibrillary activity of one or more muscles innervated by the facial nerve (the seventh cranial nerve).

Abnormal cognition is characterized by deficits in thinking, reasoning, or remembering.

A delay in the achievement of motor or mental milestones in the domains of development of a child, including motor skills, speech and language, cognitive skills, and social and emotional skills. This term should only be used to describe children younger than five years of age.

Cerebellar atrophy is defined as a cerebellum with initially normal structures, in a posterior fossa with normal size, which displays enlarged fissures (interfolial spaces) in comparison to the foliae secondary to loss of tissue. Cerebellar atrophy implies irreversible loss of tissue and result from an ongoing progressive disease until a final stage is reached or a single injury, e.g. an intoxication or infectious event.

A kind of ataxia that affects movements of the extremities.

A type of ataxia characterized by the impairment of the ability to coordinate the movements required for normal walking. Gait ataxia is characteirzed by a wide-based staggering gait with a tendency to fall.

An abnormal gait pattern in which persons stand and walk with their feet spaced widely apart. This is often a component of cerebellar ataxia.

A decrease in the ability to perceive vibration. Clinically, this is usually tested with a tuning fork which vibrates at 128 Hz and is applied to bony prominences such as the malleoli at the ankles or the metacarpal-phalangeal joints. There is a slow decay of vibration from the tuning fork. The degree of vibratory sense loss can be crudely estimated by counting the number of seconds that the examiner can perceive the vibration longer than the patient.

A functional anomaly of the upper motor neuron. The upper motor neurons are neurons of the primary motor cortex which project to the brainstem and spinal chord via the corticonuclear, corticobulbar and corticospinal (pyramidal) tracts. They are involved in control of voluntary movements. Dysfunction leads to weakness, impairment of fine motor movements, spasticity, hyperreflexia and abnormal pyramidal signs.

A type of kinetic tremor that occurs during target directed movement is called intention tremor. That is, an oscillatory cerebellar ataxia that tends to be absent when the limbs are inactive and during the first part of voluntary movement but worsening as the movement continues and greater precision is required (e.g., in touching a target such as the patient's nose or a physician's finger).

Hypotonia is an abnormally low muscle tone (the amount of tension or resistance to movement in a muscle). Even when relaxed, muscles have a continuous and passive partial contraction which provides some resistance to passive stretching. Hypotonia thus manifests as diminished resistance to passive stretching. Hypotonia is not the same as muscle weakness, although the two conditions can co-exist.

Difficulty to maintain correct position of the head while standing or sitting.

A misalignment of the eyes so that the visual axes deviate from bifoveal fixation. The classification of strabismus may be based on a number of features including the relative position of the eyes, whether the deviation is latent or manifest, intermittent or constant, concomitant or otherwise and according to the age of onset and the relevance of any associated refractive error.

A form of nystagmus in which the eyeball makes rotary motions around the axis.

An impairment of the ability to track objects with the ocular smooth pursuit system, a class of rather slow eye movements that minimizes retinal target motion.

Nystagmus consisting of horizontal to-and-fro eye movements, in which the movement in one direction is faster than in the other.

Nystagmus made apparent by looking to the right or to the left.