Traumatic Brain Injury Software Programs

TBI Cognitive Rehab Online with Oversight for Strokes, Accidents, and Chemobrain

In many cases, cognitive and physical function can be restored through brain injury cognitive retraining services. The brain is plastic. If brain cells are lost, brain cells in other regions of the brain can be trained to relearn the tasks performed by the dead cells.

Our online cognitive and speech therapy for TBI specializes in helping restore language, learning, and reading efficiency for individuals of all ages.

While we have had some dramatic results – including restoring learning for a person with meningitis and restoring learning for a 7-year-old with chemobrain – our ability to rehab depends heavily on what functions have been lost.

In our most successful rehabs, a range of symptoms of difficulty stemmed from one or two cognitive skill gaps. As we challenge the brain to relearn these skills, which can take a few months, they combine with other healthy, unaffected skills to then make what looks to be amazing progress.

Our Comprehensive Cognitive Rebuild Approach

Our primary intervention, Fast ForWord software, targets all the language and cognitive skills needed for efficient learning and reading. This methodical, assume-nothing approach makes Fast ForWord one of the most successful traumatic brain injury software programs because it is so thorough.

All at-home brain injury rehabilitation software, almost by definition, relies on brain plasticity, the ability of the brain to rewire. It’s the ability of the brain to reallocate brain cells to learn new tasks, reorganizing resources to replace the lost function in the dead brain cells.

Fast ForWord software is a leader in this world. Neuroscientists founded it with a specific focus on how to guide the brain to rewire and learn new functions.

Our second TBI cognitive therapy is Cogmed Working Memory Training. If their loss of function is clearly limited to working memory loss, Cogmed has a powerful role to play.

A key point with both programs: gains are most predictable in the cognitive or language-processing skills being trained, while generalized “real life” improvements are more variable. That’s why outcomes are sometimes better when training is embedded in a broader rehab plan—speech-language therapy, occupational therapy, psychotherapy as needed – and paired with practical supports such as external reminders, checklists, etc.

Used this way, Cogmed and/or Fast ForWord can be game-changing, as they address the disrupted, deep-seated skill gaps that one-on-one therapies can’t reach. Remediating those skill gaps creates a platform for recovery.

Neuroscience Principles in TBI Cognitive Rehab

Fast ForWord is one of the most effective traumatic brain injury software programs available because of its ability to tap into brain plasticity.

Neuroscientist founders, Dr. Michael Merzenich and Dr. William Jenkins, used six principles of intervention derived from neuroscience research to promote neural reorganization – new cells being trained to take over lost function – after injury:

• Frequency and intensity of intervention.
• Reinforcement and novelty. Timely reinforcement is particularly helpful for stroke cases, where often the motivation to rehab is not present.
• Adaptability. Carefully graded stimuli, with increased speed, precision, or task complexity that adapts to the specific performance level.
• Cross-training. The brain processes in networks, so effective rehabilitation will benefit from brain-injury software that employs cross-training.
• Attention. Little or no enduring change occurs in the cerebral cortex in adults when they are not attending to stimuli.
• Working memory. General cognitive enhancement appears to be constrained by the number of items that can be held in working memory.

Fast ForWord for TBI

Fast ForWord primarily targets inefficiencies in language and auditory-cognitive processing that impact listening, learning, and reading. It can be particularly helpful when a person reports “I can’t keep up,” especially in conversations, meetings, or with reading-heavy tasks.

Fast ForWord is intensive brain-injury software that uses adaptive exercises emphasizing timing, attention, and language comprehension to make incoming information easier to process and retain. It uses the neuroscience principles outlined above.

Fast ForWord founder and renowned neuroscientist, Dr. Michael Merzenich, has been at the forefront of research designed to take advantage of brain plasticity, helping stroke patients often regain a substantial amount of the brain function lost after brain cells die. Exercises to regain control of movement or recover the ability to speak or understand language, for example, often lead to significant post-stroke recovery.

Fast ForWord has dozens of exercises, each targeting one or more skills. It uses stretched speech and modified acoustics to create accessible starting points for most TBI patients, and builds from there in tiny increments each day.

Cogmed Working Memory Training For TBI

Cogmed is designed specifically to train working memory through adaptive exercises that gradually increase in difficulty.

Cogmed is an adaptive, online program completed over 10-12 weeks (with coaching from Gemm Learning) that repeatedly challenges these skills near a person’s current capacity.

The most consistent gains come from so-called “near transfer,” the working memory skills being trained – those being auditory, visual, moving, and static working memory. Strengthening working memory can restore functions lost after injury, such as following multi-step directions, keeping track of conversations, resisting distractions, organizing work, and remembering what they were about to do.

Our Service

We have been providing reading interventions and brain injury cognitive retraining services since 2006. We start with a consultation where we set appropriate expectations.

Our service combines cognitive training and reading interventions with professional oversight.