Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy

Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy aims to rebuild cognitive functions that have been impaired
and help patients return to their daily lives.

On this page, we’ll explore what Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy is, how it works, the different types of CRT, and how HappyNeuron Pro exercises can help.

What Is Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy?

Cognitive rehabilitation refers to a number of therapies that offer retraining in cognitive functions. The main focus is to correct deficits in memory, concentration and attention, perception, learning, planning, sequencing, and judgment. Cognitive rehabilitation therapy (CRT) aims to enhance the person’s capacity to process and interpret information. This can improve the person’s ability to function in all aspects of daily life, such as maintaining relationships with family and friends, working, and participating in their community.

Individuals may need to focus on restoring, strengthening, and sharpening cognitive functions impaired due to a brain injury, stroke, or another medical incident. In cognitive rehabilitation therapy, a clinical provider will work with patients by providing them with cognitive exercises to perform, hands-on, bridging activities, and discussion questions to help them learn and translate cognitive strategies to their everyday lives.

Who can benefit from CRT?

CRT aims to rehabilitate cognitive functions that have become impaired due to a brain injury, stroke, or multiple sclerosis. Individuals who have experienced these conditions may benefit from participating in a cognitive rehabilitation program. By completing CRT with a clinician, individuals with these conditions may strengthen their memory, attention, language, executive function skills, and more.

How does it differ from other cognitive therapies?

CRT is related to other cognitive therapies such as Cognitive Remediation and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), but there are important distinctions. Cognitive Remediation also aims to rebuild deficits in cognitive functions. However, it is generally used to address cognitive deficits due to psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. CBT addresses emotions and behavior rather than cognitive functions. Individuals who have experienced a condition that affects their cognition, such as a brain injury or stroke, may participate in multiple therapies during their recovery.

Does it work?

Cognitive rehabilitation therapy is well-studied, and new research is always coming. Researchers have documented its positive impact for patients with brain injury, stroke, and multiple sclerosis. Cognitive rehabilitation therapy encompasses many therapeutic techniques, such as computerized cognitive training, neurofeedback, and assistive technology.

Are there multiple types of cognitive rehabilitation?

Yes, there are two different approaches to CRT: restorative and compensatory.

Restorative CRT

Restorative CRT’s goal is to improve cognitive function by reinstating or strengthening the functions a person has either lost due to an injury or continues to find challenging.

Example:

A person finds it difficult to remember what they need to do in a day or pay attention to tasks given to them by another person. To help with this, a medical professional may assign different memory tasks to improve their memory. A therapist may use worksheets that challenge memory or digital exercises that challenge memory functions.

Restorative CRT repeatedly challenges a person to practice skills so that they might be able to improve their cognitive deficiencies by using the concept of neuroplasticity.

Compensatory CRT

Compensatory CRT helps an individual work around their injury. Oftentimes, individuals use an assistive device such as:

assistive speech devices
calendars, memory tools, smart devices
alarms to regain a person’s attention in specific contexts

The hope is that compensatory cognitive rehabilitation will be temporary until an individual builds up a new skill. Still, it may also be a long-term strategy when restoring a person’s functioning fully is impossible.

The four steps to cognitive rehabilitation:

There are four major steps to cognitive rehabilitation.

Education
Process training
Strategy training
Functional activities training

HappyNeuron Pro tools are developed to assist with steps two and three, process and strategy training.

Is HappyNeuron Pro a Restorative CRT or a Compensatory CRT?

Our digital tool is often used for restorative cognitive rehabilitation. Our functional activities help to stimulate and challenge all areas of cognition. With 45 exercises, we have plenty of activities to help your patients work on cognitive skills!

Did you know we create free worksheets for cognitive rehabilitation?

Our digital tool has inspired us to create a printable product for you to use with your clients. We offer free mini worksheets 2x a month.

Conditions that may benefit from Cognitive Rehabilitation

Multiple Sclerosis

This condition causes demyelination of the nervous system. Quality of life and social functioning improvements have been demonstrated using cognitive rehabilitation therapy for people with MS.

Stroke

Strokes can cause cognitive, psychosocial, and motor skill complications. Cognitive rehabilitation therapy may help patients with stroke relearn and compensate with new cognitive strategies to help them live more independently.

Traumatic Brain Injury

Brain injuries can occur from birthing complications, falls, incidents of violence, sports, and motor vehicle accidents. Cognitive rehabilitation may help your patients with a TBI build back essential cognitive functions.

Aphasia

With cognitive rehabilitation therapy, clinical providers can work with patients with aphasia to learn and implement effective communication strategies. This might help them to express themselves the way they want using written and spoken language.

Recommended exercises

With our adaptability features, the exercises can be tailored to the patient’s specific needs and made to be the appropriate difficulty level for them.

HappyNeuron Pro’s exercises can be used with individual patients, and in a group therapy context. They may be completed remotely or in person, and home workouts can be assigned to the patient so they get consistent practice in between sessions with the clinician.

Memory exercises

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Restaurant

Visual & Verbal Working Memory

I Remember You!

Visual & Verbal Memory

Chunking

Spatial Memory

Words, Where Are You?

Verbal & Spatial Memory

Attention exercises

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Two Timing

Divided Attention

Ancient Writing

Pattern Recognition

Private Eye

Visual Attention

Find Your Way!

Planning

Executive function exercises

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The Towers of Hanoi

Planning, Reasoning

Basketball in NY

Planning

Decipher

Deductive Reasoning

Hurray for Change

Switching Tasks

Summary

There are two kinds of Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy – Compensatory CRT and Restorative CRT.
Cognitive rehabilitation is appropriate for multiple conditions, including MS, Stroke, TBI, and Aphasia.
Cognitive rehabilitation may help patients to improve cognitive function.
Individuals can work on improving memory, attention, executive functioning skills, and other cognitive skills with HappyNeuron Pro.
HappyNeuron Pro’s adaptable cognitive exercises can be tailored to the patient’s unique needs.
HappyNeuron Pro can be used in a variety of contexts so that the patient is able to get consistent cognitive exercise.

Getting Started

If you are a clinician looking for effective cognitive exercises and digital tools to incorporate into your practice, we would love to help!

With HappyNeuron’s digital tools, we aim to save clinicians time and provide truly useful resources so they can focus on what really matters – helping their patients. Reach out to us to learn more and request a demo!

Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy