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Brain injury therapy is a vital part of memory, cognitive and behavioral rehabilitation. You have read time and again on these pages that no two brains are alike and, hence, no two brain injuries are alike. You guessed it! Therapies that help one person may have no affect on another; in fact, some areas of normal therapy may not be needed at all. Most professional brain injury rehabilitation includes basic therapies. Unfortunately, professional rehab is not available to many who have suffered a traumatic brain injury or some other form of acquired brain injury. One major factor is the lack of insurance coverage. Professional brain injury rehabilitation is expensive. More often than not, there is a fairly large team of therapists joined by a social worker, a case manager and a doctor or two. Another factor can be physical disabilities: is the person able to participate in therapy. A goal of professional rehab is to enable the person to achieve a degree of independent living as a lifestyle. Here's a big however: most professional rehab programs last only four months or so. But a brain injury lasts forever. We recently celebrated the 18th anniversary of Beth's anoxic brain injury. She still has no short term memory; she still has cognitive difficulties. But we continue to use the strategies we wrote about in Brain Injury Survivor's Guide. We continue to use brain activities for memory and cognitive development. Develop Your Own Therapy ProgramDavid Fearce, author of Surviving Black Ice, developed what he called Fearce Therapy. It was his own personal therapy program for his personal problems. Today he works with other brain injured individuals, helping them to achieve a richer lifestyle. Family members play a major role in developing a personal therapy program. There will be costs involved, and there will be a learning curve to develop such a program. But let's look at a few items that are very inexpensive and provide solid therapeutic value. Music does more than sooth the savage beast, as the saying goes. It provides an oasis of comfort where anyone can tune out the world and all its problems and spend quality time relaxing and recharging. Since mental fatigue is a major issue after brain injury, frequent trips to a musical oasis are most beneficial. Art is another medium that provides both an oasis of comfort but cognitive assistance as the finished product is planned and worked toward. Prior to brain injury Beth had trouble drawing stick figures. Afterward, she could draw horses from her past in pretty good detail. Word Games are fun because they are to be performed on your own time. No one is holding a stop watch like they do for IQ testing. This is your therapy. You set your own goals. You track your own progress. There is more information about Word Games below because there are some posted on this site and our other site, www.braininjuryguide.org. Physical Activity is a necessity. It promotes increased blood flow and a whole host of other benefits of which you're already familiar. We use a treadmill and barbells for aerobic activity and strength training. A five-pound dumbell is all that's needed in the beginning and, if that's too heavy, smaller ones are available. Recently, we joined the Wii generation. We purchased a Wii console with the Wii Sports Games of golf, tennis, bowling, baseball and boxing. We've been known to play for two hours at a time. It's very enjoyable, keeps us off the couch and up and moving. These four items will help you form the basis of your personal therapy program. Of course, you will be practicing and learning the dozens of strategies from our book. You will have plenty to do. But, be sure to remember those frequent rest breaks to recharge the brain. Click here to see a how a Cognitive Rehabilitation Word Game can help. Click here to check out our information about Brain Injury Rehab facilities |
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