COGNITIVE ASSESSMENT
Occupational therapists are trained to assess cognitive issues (focus, memory, thinking skills, etc.) that may be interfering with participation in activities of daily living such as self-care, homemaking, school, work and leisure activities. Cognitive rehabilitation begins by the occupational therapist meeting with injured the individual who may have experienced a concussion (mildTBI) or more severe traumatic brain injury from a fall, car accident, assault, near-drowning or medical procedure. Our referrals come from family members, family physicians, specialist physicians, chiropractors, physical therapists as well as insurance companies and legal professionals. We provided home-based occupational therapy services with a variety of standardized cognitive testing tools for kids, teens, adults and older adults. Our assessment process often includes communicating with family who share their observations and concerns.
Turning Point Rehab has partnered with Creyos to offer an online test to provide an accurate measure of 12 different areas of cognition. This assessment helps our OTs target therapy to efficiently improve cognitive health and well being. Key highlights of this cloud-based service include:
TREATMENT
After the cognitive assessment is complete, the OT will work with identifying individualized goals for the cognitive rehabilitation program. Common goals are to improve focus while reading, organization with work/school tasks, memory of lists and names, etc. Cognitive rehabilitation involves two approaches.
Cognitive Remediation activities to help restore attention, memory, thinking skills. We utilize evidenced-based cognitive remediation programs, such as the Brainwave-R, that the OT individualizes to target cognitive skills; we do not rely on apps or technology that are not likely to help you meet your goals. Brainwave-R – was designed to assist in the cognitive rehabilitation of individuals with brain injuries. It consists of five workbooks (attention, visual processing, information processing, memory, and executive functions) containing many cognitive exercises. The Occupational Therapist works along with a Rehabilitation Assistant (RA) or Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) to help work through the individualized activities on a regular basis to help restore cognitive function. Cognitive rehabilitation may start at 2 or 3 times per week and may continue as long as progress is being made toward meeting functional goals. The occupational therapist will re-assess on a regular basis to ensure progress is being met with the remediation program and make changes as needed.
Compensatory Strategies help make activities that require cognitive skills easier. Learning how to compensate for cognitive difficulties after a brain injury is key during early and late recovery. OTs provide education sessions on the strategies most likely to help you reduce cognitive fatigue during early recovery and later, to improve functioning by compensating attention, memory, planning and organizing functions. The following are common examples of how learning compensatory strategies can improve daily functioning.