Brain Exercises to Improve Cognitive and Memory Skills

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone,

   I was in a car accident and suffered some brain injury.  I learned some

things in Speech Therapy I thought I'd share.  It's great for general cognitive

deficits other CM/SM patients may deal with.

 These exercises were used to improve memory. This was done with a deck of

cards.  These were timed.  I struggled a lot at first but after a while it get

much easier.

 1) Sort the four suits of cards into piles face up.

2) Four Suits Down: Sort the four suits of cards into piles face down.

3) Four Suits Down Face Cards Up: Sort the four suits of cards face down into

piles,but keep all face cards up in the same piles.

4)Four suits up " e " down: Sort every card face up in it's respective suit,unless

the value (ten ,ace, four,

etc.) has the letter " e " in the spelling, then it goes face down. Example:

ten,ace, three all go face down; four,king go face up.

5) Red/Black, Even odd: Four piles of cards face up,one pile is red even cards,

one pile is red odd cards, one pile is black even cards, one is black odd cards.

6) Rehearsal: Deal 4-5 cards off of the deck, look at them and then place them

face down on the table. Rehearse what they are multiple times and then, keep

them face down, reorder them from highest card to lowest card. Increase the

number of cards to reorder as you are able.

# 6 was the hardest one to do but it got easier the more I did it.

These card exercises also help me process information quicker.

Then there are exercises to help what's called " internal manipulation " .  This

involves scheduling our time and making plans.  Some of the card games I did

helped with this as well.  The following exercises did as well.

 For this I would spell words backwards. In my head not looking at the words  Up

to 8  letters.  I would unscramble words verbally, not looking at them.  I was

verbally given a sentence and I'd take the words in the sentence and put them in

alphabetical order. About 6-8 words were in the sentence.

When the session started I was given 6 words to remember.  I'd have to remind

the Therapist at the end of the session, that I had to tell them what the words

were by memory.

 I did problem solving charts.  These really made me think. They are hard to

explain.  You'd have to see them to know what I mean.

This helps with reaction time because I was timed.

Well hope you can find something useful here to help in your situations.

Take Care,

Regina

ACM1 11mm  SM C6-T1

Decompressed 2001

TC Surgery @ TCI 2007

PFD Revision/Fusion to C5 2007

" ...the joy of the

LORD is your strength " Nehamiah 8:10