What Is Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy?

Cognitive impairment is a common neuropsychological symptom in patients with stroke, brain trauma, and various types of dementia. In the process of rehabilitation of patients with brain injury, cognitive impairment is an important factor hindering the improvement of limb function and daily living activities. Attaching importance to the clinical manifestations of various cognitive dysfunctions and timely examination and diagnosis will help to treat cognitive disorders in a timely manner, help shorten the rehabilitation course for patients with brain injuries, and promote the rehabilitation of brain injuries. Rehabilitation training plays an important role in reducing symptoms and delaying their progression. Training includes attention training, memory training, computational training, and training for perceptual impairment.

Basic Information

Visiting department

Rehabilitation physiotherapy

Multiple groups

Stroke, traumatic brain injury, and various types of dementia

Cognitive Impairment Rehabilitation Assessment

The assessment of cognitive impairment mainly relies on clinical neuropsychological examination. The assessment can provide an objective basis for diagnosis, treatment, efficacy observation and judgment of prognosis.

Common evaluation methods are:

Screening method

The rapid detection of comprehensive neurological function can detect the existence of cognitive impairment in patients. Commonly used cognitive function screening scales include a simple mental state examination scale and a cognitive ability screening scale.

2. Specific inspection method

Used for detailed assessment of a particular type of cognitive impairment.

3. Complete test

A set of standardized tests is mainly used for more comprehensive quantitative measurement of cognitive function. Commonly used are neuropsychological test sets, Lowenston's cognitive therapy test sets for occupational therapy, and so on.

4. Functional inspection method

The degree of cognitive dysfunction was evaluated by directly observing patients' activities in daily life. Commonly used are occupational therapy-neurobehavioral assessment of daily activities.

Cognitive Impairment Rehabilitation Training Principles

Principles of rehabilitation training for cognitive impairment:

1. The training plan should be based on evaluation to ensure that the training plan is targeted.

2. The training method must be professional. Don't confuse primary school teaching materials or games with professional training.

3. The design of the training content should have continuity, the training level should be easy to difficult, and gradually.

4. One-to-one, face-to-face training combined with computer-assisted training.

5. The combination of intensive training of basic skills and improvement of ability.

6. Combination of intensive training and compensation training.

Cognitive impairment rehabilitation training method

Rehabilitation training methods:

Attention training

(1) Basic skills training In the therapeutic training, it is necessary to carry out grading training from easy to difficult for each component of attention. Basic skills training includes response time training, attention to stability, selectivity, transferability, and distribution training.

(2) Internal assisted training mobilizes the patient's own factors and learns some methods of controlling attention deficits.

(3) Adaptive adjustment includes operation adjustment and environmental adjustment.

2. Memory training

(1) Internal assistance Some measures to improve or compensate for memory impairment by mobilizing its own factors to replace the damaged function with lighter or normal functions. Including retelling, visual imagery, semantic refinement, first word memorization and so on.

(2) The method of external assistance to help people with memory impairment by means of others or other things. By reminding, the inconvenience caused by memory impairment to daily life is minimized. Memory external aids can be divided into storage tools, such as notebooks, recorders, schedules, computers, etc .; reminder tools, such as timepieces, timers, alarm clocks, calendars, pagers, message machines, iconic posts; Visual cue, etc.

(3) Environmental adjustment The adjustment of the environment is to reduce the load on memory. Including the environment should be as simple as possible, such as clean rooms, furniture should not be too much; remind the patients with eye-catching signs.

3. Computational training

The training program is based on correct diagnosis and typing. For example, patients with frontal lobe miscalculation use control strategies to improve attention deficits and reduce persistence. Patients with spatial miscalculation are often accompanied by unilateral spatial neglect. You can use write-off tasks, graphic duplication, visual search tasks, even line segment tasks, and clock drawing tasks to help improve unilateral space neglect. At the same time, reading mark technology is used to help patients with spatial miscalculation to read. Training includes digital concepts, calculation load, arithmetic facts, arithmetic rules, mental arithmetic, estimation, daily life (finance) ability training, etc., see the cognitive rehabilitation workstation training system for details.

4. Thinking training

Let the patient do some simple analysis, judgment, reasoning, and calculation training. Reasonably arrange the time of mental activities and train patients' thinking activities. For example, ask the patient to say as much as possible about an object or animal, such as "What characteristics do cats have and what do they do?" Have the patient read the newspaper, listen to the radio, watch TV, etc. Help patients understand and discuss them with them.

5. Perceptual impairment training

(1) Body composition obstacle training recognizes the body parts of the body and the object, the left and right concepts of the body, etc.

(2) Unilateral neglect is trained by visual scanning training, sensory awakening training and other methods.

(3) Method training combining basic skills training and functional training of spatial relationship syndrome .

(4) Patients with unrecognized items can undergo various intensive training related to items, such as graphic-Chinese character matching, graphic similar matching, sound-graphic matching, and graphic designation.

(5) Apraxia: For patients with intentional apraxia, story pictures can be used for sorting. The complexity of the storyline can be gradually increased as the patient progresses.