Journal of Alzheimers Disease & Parkinsonism
Open Access

Abstract

Cognitive training and the ongoing participation in cognitively stimulating activities has been attracting a fair amount of research and attention in the field. There is overall agreement that cognitive training is an efficacious method to address dementia with or without medication. Specificity of the cognitive training appears to be a primary variable for improved functioning providing rationale for the use of neuropsychological testing to identify the specific problems and provide focused treatment to address areas of deficit. Brain enhancing activities have been systematically studied and labeled for the effect they are expected to have in remediating brain function; memory (short and long term, retrieval and recognition, visual and verbal) executive reasoning processes (selective attention, integration, perseveration, sequential analysis, cognitive flexibility) language (word retrieval) and visual perceptual. The key to the most effective outcome is early diagnosis and treatment. Individuals who would likely pass a more basic dementia evaluation can be diagnosed early with the use of neuropsychological evaluation targeting specific diagnosis of the different types of dementia (Alzheimer?s, Frontal Lobe, Lewy Body, Cardiovascular/ Frontotemporal), resulting in intervention prior to symptoms becoming sufficiently prominent so as to be apparent to family members; depicting a far more serious illness. This suggests a call to action and query of memory functioning during routine primary care office visits and the partnership of allied professionals. What is clear from research spanning over ten years is the benefit of cognitive training/rehabilitation upon brain function in helping to remediate the effects of dementia. Provided are two case studies that reveal robust neurocognitive changes that transferred to improved emotional and daily living skills.

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 a publication on twenty years of ADHD evaluation, ongoing abstracts on 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.