We are a speech-language pathology practice specializing in cognitive rehabilitation, executive functioning, and pragmatics in Tampa, FL.
Brenda Curtwright, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, started this practice in 2015 to provide cognitive rehabilitation services and social skills training to the Tampa Bay community. She has worked on the staff of the University of South Florida’s Morsani Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry for 14 years prior to starting Brenda Curtwright and Associates. While at Morsani Medical School, Dr. Curtwright worked with patients with traumatic brain injury, stroke, and mild cognitive dysfunction (MCI). She also served as a speech-language pathologist on the neuropsychiatric team that served as a consultant to Hillsborough County Schools for 10 years.
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Please note these videos are for educational and informational purposes only and do not substitute therapy or professional medical advice.
Can u make a vedio on recovery of memory and brain function for a person who went through depression 7 years have problems with spellings, absent mind,lost remembering new facts. Once she was PGT BIOLOGY, double graduate with masters. A series of this will help more with excercises, games,worksheets, activities 🙏her age is 36
Thank you for the request. You question addresses a problem many people are struggling with along with the impact of depression treatment modalities on cognition. I appreciate your feedback and will address this in upcoming videos.
Thank you! I had no idea there was testing available to check what is evidently a very impactful deficit. it is so frustrating. I am a controller for a large dealer group and the post-covid effects are definitely effecting my job performance as well as every day life.
You are welcome and I appreciate your sharing your experience! Yes, neuropsychological testing is valuable to give you a close look at your cognition. Some people get them just to have a base measurement of where they are now so they can monitor if they change over time. Call your insurance company to see if you can find a neuropsychologist who takes your insurance. If you do not have insurance call psychology departments at your local state colleges to see if they offer services on a sliding scale. I wish you well!
I recommend you repeat (out loud) the items as they appear to help you encode them. In real life repeat out loud things you are trying to make stick to help it register better. Let me know how it goes!
Typically you would obtain a referral from your PCP to your neurologist or neuropsychologist who refers to my company. You will need a referral and then you would call us and we would schedule your appointment.
Grad student in clinical social work (aspiring therapist with children and families) who is myself diagnosed with and in treatment for Bipolar 1/ADHD (concurrent diagnoses). Your videos are extremely helpful, resourceful and fascinating! Thank you!!
I appreciate the feedback Rick. Please let me know what topics you may be interested in exploring. Thank you again for your detailed feedback. I am happy to have you as part of the community!
I am a graduate student in clinical social work who was recently diagnosed with Bipolar 1 and concurrent ADHD. I am undergoing treatment and working both with a Psychiatrist and a Clinical Psychologist but still struggling with significant cognitive deficit and challenges particularly with executive function. This video (as well as your others) is extremely helpful, resourceful and informative and equally fascinating as well! Thank you!!!!
Thank you Rick. I wish you well as a student in clinical social work which is a challenging program. It sounds like you have good support which is great! I hope to cover more on executive functioning in the near future, but let me know what areas of executive functioning you are struggling in so I may include it in upcoming episodes. If you are experiencing problems know others are as well and you are not alone. Thank you!
How can I access this type of therapy? I live in UK and couldn't find any therapist that does it. I'm happy to do it with you, but not sure how to contact you
IF A PATIENT ASKED IF OBTAINING AND MAINTAINING FOCUS AND YOGA PLUS BREATHING EXERCISES WERE A PART OF COGNITIVE REHABILITATION HOW LIKELY WOULD A FAMILY THERAPIST'S REPLY BE "YES" HOW ARE THE LEVELS OF REHABILITATION DETERMINED....ARE THEY DETERMINED BY SEVERITY OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCES AND RELATIONSHIP DIFFICULTIES OUT OF AN ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP. RECOVERY FROM AN ASSAULT FROM A STALKING OR RAPE OR OTHER PHYSICAL ATTACK. BATTLING PROVING SCAMS.... THREATENING TACTICS OF SUPPOSED SALES PERSONS, PPL GENERALLY SOLICITING HOUSE REPAIR AND GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE OR FEDERAL PROGRAMS FOR DEBT RELIEF AND MORTGAGE OR RENT EXPENSE PAYMENT. ARE THESE DEEMED PUNISHABLE BY WHAT LAW IF ANY AND HOW ARE PERSONS QUALIFIED FOR IMMEDIATE MENTAL HEALTH CARE IN THE EVENT OF SUCH ACTS OF RANDOM OR PREMEDITATED VIOLENCE. THANKS FOR ALL YOUR PROFESSIONALISM AND INSIGHTFUL ADVICE. YOU ARE APPRECIATED!!!!!!!
Thank you so much for your feedback. I am so happy you find the channel very interesting. I try to do activities that most people across the broad range of mild cognitive impairment can do, but will add different activities that will have more challenge in the future. Your feedback gives me ideas for future content so I appreciate it! I hope you had a Happy Christmas and have a Happy New Year!
Hi, thank you for your comment. I hope the videos provide you with some support, however, it is helpful to seek cognitive rehabilitation therapy if that is possible. Please let me know any topics you are interested in learning about so I may consider them for future videos.
Hello Danielle, you are welcome! The lesson in this video can be used with a patient with a milder form of dementia (e.g. they can label and describe objects, read words, and answer questions about verbs). If the person has more severe dementia I would use real common objects (e.g. hair brush, fork, book) and have them tell me two things about the item. For the VNest exercise I would use photographs that showed an action from the person's life and have them tell me what was happening in the photo. I would ask "what is happening in this picture?" followed by questions "who", and "where" questions about the photo. I would work on these activities for 10 to 20 minutes twice a week if the person tolerates the activity for that long. I hope that answers your question. Let me know how it goes if you do this. Thanks for such a great question!
Hello, thank you for this great question. There are a few options to obtain services. If you have insurance you can contact your insurance company and see what speech language pathologists are on your insurance's board and contact them and see if they offer cognitive rehabilitation. If you don't have insurance google speech language pathologist cognitive rehabilitation in your area and ask them if they have a private pay rate. Another option is to seek out a psychologist or neuropsychologist to obtain a neuropsychological assessment which often can result in a referral to a speech language pathologist or occupational therapy (who do cognitive rehabilitation therapy as well), Obtaining a neuropsychological assessment is very helpful in it will provide a comprehensive assessment of your attention, language, memory, and visuospatial skills in addition to your executive functioning skills which will provide good information to the therapist who provides you with cognitive rehabilitation services. I hope this helps. Please let me know of you have any additional questions. Best Regards! Brenda Curtwright
I experienced a traumatic injury that caused long-term disability. I struggle with long-term memory, working memory, decision making, attention and chronic depersonalization. My state of awareness was so drastically altered that I entered a state of extreme avoidance. Before the injury, I was a successful Engineering student. After the event, I couldn't participate consistently enough to complete the semester. I left school and managed to build a Software Engineer career by self-teaching programming. I have advanced significantly over five years. Unfortunately, I relied heavily on stimulant medicine to focus. I struggled to manage an independent lifestyle. I was under the impression that psychiatric medication and talk therapy were my only resources. The treatment had no impact. I assumed that I would have to rehabilitate myself without support. When I discovered a cognitive rehabilitation service, I was stoked. I needed result-driven treatment. I fully believe in the process of establishing a baseline, setting measurable goals, selecting exercises to resolve deficiencies and tweaking the program to meet client needs and achieve long-term change. I've wanted to be a neurologist since I was eight years old. I will create a way to finance my education. I love learning about Neuroplasticity. In fact, this is the one subject I can focus on without medication. My passion drives my curiosity. I resent postponing my Neuroscience interest but need to support myself financially. I've been thinking and writing about this career goal for years. Once I'm in, I'll design software to track neuroplastic change and generate training exercises. I will find a way to make this my life work. It's already my life story. I would love to work for my education. This isn't simply an interest. It's who I am and what I'm compelled to do. I will make it happen. Fantastic video! You articulate the problem and provide a relevant exercise. You tweak the technique to keep it challenging as the patient progresses. Your videos are interesting and insightful. I'm looking forward to watching more!
I enjoyed this little exercise and was able to recall the names of all but two. In answering what did they do and how would you describe them I found myself answering many of those questions with the same answers.
