As medical providers, you have undoubtedly encountered patients whose functioning both at work and at home has declined significantly due to the effects of a brain injury. At CNS, we recognize the importance of addressing not only the specific cognitive deficits that each patient presents, but also the myriad of other factors that contribute to each individual’s cognitive performance.
In our cognitive rehabilitation program, we develop a treatment plan for each patient that targets the impairments identified in the formal neuropsychological evaluation, as well as the difficulties that the patient is experiencing in his or her day-to-day functioning. Cognitive exertion often brings rapid fatigue, headaches, frustration, and mental fuzziness, and these are not revealed during the assessment process or at the doctor’s office. Nonetheless, these factors exert a significant and detrimental impact upon the patient’s life and can interfere with his or her resumption of pre-injury levels of activity.
Our program utilizes
- a wide variety of auditory and visual processing tasks, including computerized exercises, worksheets, and other relevant materials
- customized tasks that replicate the cognitive demands of actual home/work settings
- compensatory strategies that are directly relevant to daily routines and tasks
- education about and practice with pacing techniques to manage escalations in fatigue, headache, and mental fuzziness
In our experience the combination of restorative and compensatory approaches along with the development of symptom management is essential to each individual’s rehabilitation. We have found that this combination facilitates the most comprehensive and effective improvements in patients’ functional and overall quality of life as they face the difficult task of learning to live with brain injury.
Over the course of the past 25 years, we have continually evaluates and updated our treatment protocols in order to provide patients with the treatment interventions that are the most effective. We are commited to continuing with these efforts as we move forward into the future.
