The I4I Project
Problems with thinking after brain trauma (cognitive impairments) are called the ‘hidden disability’ as they often go unrecognised. Difficulty remembering, planning and concentrating are important causes of long-term disability. The effects of these problems are often devastating. Patients and their families often feel abandoned after their discharge. By the time it is clear that people are not recovering, many months have often passed and important interventions have been delayed. What is needed is a way to track patient’s recovery and intervene quickly where necessary.
We have developed a computer-based system to repeatedly test cognitive function. The system tests thinking problems commonly affected by brain injury. It also provides a way to provide targeted brain ‘re-training’ for patient’s who are not recovering. Re-training thinking skills after trauma is likely to need hundreds of hours of work. It is not possible to deliver this using conventional services as it would overwhelm the available resources. However, this can be achieved using our computer-based system where patient’s work at home on their rehabilitation.
We have already applied our general approach to test thinking skills in more than 100,000 healthy individuals via the Internet. We have begun to develop this approach with help from patient’s who have thinking problems after brain injury. This shows that: (a) they like the system; (b) they are happy do regular daily sessions; (c) they improve over the course of training; and (d) they feel that the system is helping them. This has provided us with the motivation to develop the system further. Our goal is to provide a system that all patients can access after brain injury, which will accurately test their cognitive function and allow access to effective re-training if necessary.
Problems with thinking after brain trauma (cognitive impairments) are called the ‘hidden disability’ as they often go unrecognised. Difficulty remembering, planning and concentrating are important causes of long-term disability. The effects of these problems are often devastating. Patients and their families often feel abandoned after their discharge. By the time it is clear that people are not recovering, many months have often passed and important interventions have been delayed. What is needed is a way to track patient’s recovery and intervene quickly where necessary.
We have developed a computer-based system to repeatedly test cognitive function. The system tests thinking problems commonly affected by brain injury. It also provides a way to provide targeted brain ‘re-training’ for patient’s who are not recovering. Re-training thinking skills after trauma is likely to need hundreds of hours of work. It is not possible to deliver this using conventional services as it would overwhelm the available resources. However, this can be achieved using our computer-based system where patient’s work at home on their rehabilitation.
We have already applied our general approach to test thinking skills in more than 100,000 healthy individuals via the Internet. We have begun to develop this approach with help from patient’s who have thinking problems after brain injury. This shows that: (a) they like the system; (b) they are happy do regular daily sessions; (c) they improve over the course of training; and (d) they feel that the system is helping them. This has provided us with the motivation to develop the system further. Our goal is to provide a system that all patients can access after brain injury, which will accurately test their cognitive function and allow access to effective re-training if necessary.