Recent scientific evidence suggests that the adult nervous system is not fixed, with little capacity for changing its behaviour in response to new circumstances, as was traditionally believed, but that it can change in response to the way that it is used. Therapists, rehabilitationists and teachers of the handicapped spend considerable time and effort on trying to restore function in patients with damage to the nervous system, but often lose touch with the exceptionally rapid change of pace in the neurosciences. This introduction to the plasticity of the nervous system has been written in response to the need for clinical practitioners to be kept updated.