Cognitive Assessments and Rehabilitation

Occupational Therapy

The primary goal of an Occupational Therapist is to facilitate or maximize functional independence in occupations for people. Occupations refer to activities and tasks of everyday life. It is everything you do to occupy yourself including self-care, work and leisure. Occupation gives meaning and structure to life and is important for health and well-being.

Occupational Therapy and Cognition

Cognitive impairments can be devastating as it becomes a barrier to resuming pre-morbid daily tasks in the occupational performance areas of home, work and leisure. There can be long term effects which ultimately increases the burden of disease on caregivers. Cognition refers to information processing functions including attention, memory and executive functions i.e. planning, problem solving, self-monitoring and self-awareness. Functional cognition is the interaction of cognitive skills with self-care and community engagement. Cognition is therefore crucial to undertake every day activities such as self-care, work, home management etc. The occupational therapist therefore assesses and rehabilitates cognitive skills in order to improve independence in daily occupations of self-care, work and leisure. A client-centred approach is used in which work is done with the client, family and others involved such as work. The Occupational therapy process includes:

Interviewing the client and caregiver (if applicable)
The use of impairment specific and functional assessments
Input and guidance regarding rehabilitation
Advise the family about future planning