This is a part of the Hot Topic podcast series from the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center on Changes in Memory After TBI. Dr. Angelle Sander discusses Cognitive Rehabilitation for Memory Problems After TBI.

A cognitive rehabilitation program is one in which people with any type of cognitive deficit, including things like problems with attention, problems with memory, problems with reasoning abilities or problem-solving, this program is a program that's designed to help people be able to compensate for those problems in a way that allows them to function in their everyday environments and to meet their everyday functional goals.

So typically a cognitive rehabilitation program will be holistic in that it will want to address every goal that the person has in their everyday environment. It can be done in a group setting or in an individual setting. The advantages of a group setting are that people learn from each other, so people may have a hard time after a brain injury recognizing the problems that they're having with cognition.

But they have an easier time recognizing it in someone else. And so the group setting can be used to have people model strategies that have been successful for them and that other people can learn from and also can be used as a way of having social feedback for people so that if another person with injury mentions to someone else that they think they're having a problem, they're more likely to hear it than if a therapist tells them the same thing.

Another important component besides the group therapy of a cognition rehabilitation program is individual one-on-one therapy with a neuropsychologist, with a speech therapist or an occupational therapist who can help you to develop individualized strategies for your everyday goals.

And the individual therapy is important because it can address techniques and strategies that fit your needs, and that can't be done in the group setting.

Visit https://msktc.org/tbi and get the answers you need from experts who conduct innovative and high-quality research, provide patient care, and work to improve the health and overall quality of life for people with traumatic brain injury. That’s https://msktc.org/tbi.