Packet #25

This exercise primarily targets concentration, working memory, and executive functioning skills. These cognitive skills are heavily used when we are problem solving. Because your client must use some degree of trial and error, they must remember which attempts were successful as well as which ones were not. They must then devise strategies that help them remember the category of each drawer and what words correspond to each category. We use these skills when we have to organize items in our home in a way that makes them accessible to us and presentable.

Highly visual, this exercise targets your client’s ability to remember the objects they have seen and their location in space. Paying attention to the features of the objects presented and their location engages the hippocampus, frontal lobe, and both the ventral and visual processing pathways.

Many situations in real-life demand the correct pairing of information to an individual’s identity, like remembering which healthcare provider corresponds to which specialty. Other situations these skills are important are for when someone has guests over and one guest has an allergy or a preference for a food item. Using attention, working memory, and name recognition, your client will learn to create meaningful associations with multiple pieces of information.

Using context clues given in text, your client must complete a passage by correctly filling in the blanks with the right words. In situations where we encounter ambiguities, we must use knowledge we have at present in order to solve problems. Examples of situations where using context clues is important for problem solving include “reading a room” of people and reading a text where one may encounter unfamiliar words.