Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment

Rehab From Strokes, Accidents And Other Brain Injuries

For many people after a traumatic brain injury (TBI), the “bottleneck” isn’t knowledge – it’s cognitive skills. This includes working memory, sustaining attention, slowed language processing, difficulty integrating what they hear in real time, and reading stamina issues.

Gemm Learning uses Fast ForWord software and Cogmed Working Memory training as traumatic brain injury treatments, for stroke rehabilitation, accidents, and recovery from brain-related difficulties, including meningitis and chemobrain. Both programs rely on brain plasticity, the ability of the brain to self-organize and heal when exercised appropriately. TBI testimonials here.

The book, The Brain That Changes Itself, by Dr. Norman Doidge, is full of stories of individuals overcoming brain injury using software like Fast ForWord. One chapter recounts the story of a person who fully recovered from a stroke that killed 97% of the brain’s cells.

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 And Brain Injury

In many cases, cognitive and physical function can be restored. 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.

That’s why Fast ForWord and Cogmed achieve the gains they do.

Neuroscientists Dr. Michael Merzenich and Dr. William Jenkins have specified six principles of intervention derived from neuroscience research that they believe can be applied to brain injury software, 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 complexity of tasks that adapt to the specific performance level.
• Cross-training. The brain processes in networks, and 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

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 an intensive brain injury software that uses adaptive exercises that emphasize timing, attention, and language comprehension, with the goal of making 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 over movements or to recover the ability to speak or to 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

Cogmed is designed specifically to train working memory through adaptive exercises that gradually increase in difficulty. For the right patient—someone medically stable, able to practice consistently, and experiencing clear working-memory limitations—Cogmed can help rebuild cognitive stamina and make everyday demands (multi-step directions, note-taking, staying on task, managing distractions) feel more manageable.

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 provide traumatic brain injury treatment only after a consultation where we set appropriate expectations. Our service combines online software with professional oversight.