Journal of Alzheimers Disease & Parkinsonism
Open Access

Abstract

The effectiveness of a cognitive therapy/training program (that is individually designed) to remediate neuropsychological deficits (primarily memory) in a diagnosed dementia population at a private clinic was assessed. Neuropsychological evaluation was administered prior to and following therapeutic intervention and results were compared. Adults (n=43, age 51-90 years) were evaluated for memory deficits and diagnosed with dementia. Neuropsychological assessments included the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS), the Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning (WRAML-2), the Memory Assessment System (MAS), and the Doors and People Test. On average a total of 3 to 4 months elapsed between pre and post testing, during which therapy took place for one hour two times per week. Statistical analysis using paired samples t-tests revealed significant improvements for pre to post treatment scores for the total recall (p=0.036), delayed recall (p=0.008), and visuospatial construction (p= 0.037) on the RBANS. There was a significant improvement between pre and post therapy scores for verbal memory (p=0.013) on the WRAML-2 and for short term memory (p=0.049) on the MAS. Significant improvements were also found on the Doors and People test for the recognition of doors (from distracter items) presented visually (p=0.028) and the overall age scaled score for forgetting (verbal and visual memory) (p=0.021). Analysis utilizing neuropsychological evaluation suggests that areas of memory spanning from verbal memory, visual memory, visuospatial construction, delayed recall, and overall recall were augmented in patients diagnosed with dementia following cognitive therapy/training in as little as three months� time.

Biography

Barbara C Fisher is a neuropsychologist with board certification in behavioral sleep medicine. She has been involved in dementia evaluation for over twenty years. She is the author of four books on Attention Deficit Disorder and co-morbid disorders, lead author on several abstracts on sleep and ADHD as well as cognitive rehabilitation for dementia and head injury and participating author on publications on sleep and ADHD. She is the clinical director for United Psychological Services, a private clinic which specializes in diagnosis and treatment of dementia amongst other specializations. Cognitive training has been provided at United Psychological Services for the last fifteen years at United Psychological Services; targeting dementia for the last ten years; publishing ongoing research over the last three years. The cognitive training program is unique with over 200 tasks to choose from that is individually designed based upon neuropsychological test results.