How to Use Cognitive Worksheets in Individual Therapy Sessions

Brain injuries, strokes, and concussions cause damage to the brain tissue. When the brain tissue is damaged, neural connections and networks are disrupted. These neural networks across our brain are responsible for correctly executing behaviors. When these networks are disrupted, groups of neurons cannot fire properly and must re-adapt. This often results in cognitive impairment. This could express as a global deficit or only impact a specific cognitive function such as executive function. It all depends upon the location and severity of brain damage. 

People who have experienced a decline in cognition often receive inpatient or outpatient therapy. Therapy after these neurological events addresses may help improve the cognitive concerns that a patient experiences.

To work on these cognitive skills, therapists often use printable materials as many people with these injuries are sensitive to light. Worksheets such as HappyNeuron Pro Worksheets* are a great way to help patients rehabilitate after an injury because they can provide a low-intensity rehabilitative experience for patients with neurological injuries. 

*The overall goal of using worksheets is to provide a way to stimulate an individual’s brain.  We have evidence to make claims regarding our digital tool, which may help to improve cognitive ability, but we do not have the scientific evidence to claim our worksheets have the potential to impact change. We are not making scientific claims on these items. 

How Worksheets might Help with Cognitive Rehabilitation 

Cognitive rehabilitation therapy is currently being and has evidence to be positive in the efforts to rehabilitate an individual.  There are been studies that show its efficacy for patients with brain injury, stroke, and multiple sclerosis.

Cognitive rehabilitation therapy encompasses many therapeutic techniques such as computerized cognitive training, neurofeedback, and assistive technology. Our worksheets would fall under cognitive rehabilitation therapy as a printable therapeutic technique. 

To be more specific, our worksheets are considered a solution to help with Restorative CRT. Since restorative CRT’s goal is to improve cognitive function by reinstating or strengthening the functions of a person. Our worksheets could help strengthen the weak function by being a repeated challenge. Especially since restorative CRT repeatedly challenges a person to practice skills to improve their cognitive deficiencies. Our worksheets could be an additional resource to increase the stimulation repetition while being a new activity. 

Why would I use Paper Worksheets?

We offer cognitive worksheets that you can use to work on cognitive skills one-on-one with your patient. Paper-based cognitive activities are a time enduring way to practice cognitive skills. Some individuals, such as older adults, may prefer to perform cognitive activities using worksheets. Computer programs may be off putting for certain individuals. In addition, paper-based cognitive worksheets are sometimes accessible because they do not require the use of technology to perform them.

How Worksheets might help keep your patient’s brain sharp

Adults, especially those aged 65+, are looking for ways to keep their brains sharp. Many adults perform cognitive exercises, such as completing the daily word puzzles in the newspaper or playing sudoku. However, most people do not perform cognitive activities in a regimented way. With HappyNeuron Pro’s cognitive worksheets, you may be able to help your aging clients get into a cognitive training routine. 

You can provide your patient with different cognitive worksheets that target functions such as language, executive functioning, memory, and visual-spatial skills. Each of HappyNeuron Pro’s cognitive worksheets has exercises progressively increasing in difficulty. You can have them progress through the packet so your patient can gradually learn strategies and sharpen cognitive skills. Or you can give them only the hard pages. The options are endless with our cognitive worksheets. 

How to use Worksheets As an Ice Breakers

Getting a client to communicate and feel comfortable with you can take time. Sometimes they have underlying depression from their brain injury or living conditions. Other times, individuals might not want to engage. Worksheets are one way to help patients ease into therapy. By performing an activity that stimulates their brains and is potentially easy for them to solve, you may be able to help to open up a stubborn individual.

When you activate your patient’s brain, your patient may be able to articulate better how they think and feel. This is particularly helpful for psychotherapy sessions, where patients may feel reserved sharing what they are thinking about. By performing a stimulating cognitive activity, you can support and build trust with your patients as they activate their minds and increase their comfort and trust in you.

Our Favorite Ways to use Worksheets

As a way to Practice Social Skills

Social cognition refers to how we process, store, and use information about interactions with other people. People may have trouble with social cognition and skills due to a brain injury, psychological condition, or developmental disability. To help individuals build social skills, therapists may utilize worksheets that provide exercises focusing on social cognition. These worksheets have exercises that teach individuals how to recognize emotions in others, how to plan a social activity, and how to respond to social situations. 

By performing these exercises, individuals might learn strategies to help them handle social situations. They also may be able to find ways to better adapt to new challenges that arise from interacting with different people. 

 

For Boosting Mood 

Affective disorders such as depression impact an individual’s emotional, cognitive, and social health. Cognitive training has been shown to promote emotional well-being and reduce the risk of relapsing depression. Psychologists, counselors, and other mental health professionals might be able to provide their patients with cognitive training using cognitive worksheets. Cognitive training focuses on processing speed, attention, memory, executive functioning, and language for individuals with affective disorders. 

By working on cognitive skills with affective disorder patients, you might be able to help your patient stimulate their brains, learn strategies to help them manage their emotions and solve problems, as well as help them build confidence. Additionally, offering worksheets that might be easy for an individual as a task could benefit their self-confidence. When an individual learns that they can overcome, solve or complete a task easily, they may start to believe in themselves again. That effect alone could change a person’s mood.

 

Helping Students Grow

Cognitive worksheets may help students remediate learning disabilities that interfere with academic performance. Academic success requires students to focus during classes, put together pieces of information to learn concepts, manage their coursework, and more. By working on cognitive functions, you might be able to help your students build the skills they need to enact behaviors that will help them succeed in school. Along with the exercises, having your students answer bridging questions will help them reflect upon what is being learned and how their cognitive practice can translate to their academic life.

Your student can perform these cognitive worksheets independently, as part of their homework, or one-on-one with you as a guided therapeutic activity.

 

Download Our Most FREE Recent Worksheets

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Celebrate spooky season with this ghostly (but cute) mini packet! These fun worksheets will help you work on executive function skills such as planning and reasoning. Inspired by our digital exercise, Basketball in NY, you’ll be asked to mentally move ghosts in order to recreate an example image, in the fewest moves possible. This exercise targets executive functioning and spatial reasoning skills, requiring you to mentally move objects, utilize your working memory, and think strategically. These skills contribute to daily tasks like grocery shopping, planning an event, organizing items in your home, or solving a difficult problem.

This mini packet is great for adolescents and adults.

Included inside: 10 pages of executive function worksheets, and bridging questions.

If you like this mini packet, make sure to check out our other executive function worksheets today! → 

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Get ready for the autumn harvest with this mini packet! These fun worksheets will help you work on visual-spatial and executive function skills. Inspired by our digital exercise, Entangled Figures, you’ll be asked to look at a complex image made up of several simpler images, and determine which simple images make up the tangled figure. This exercise targets visual-spatial and executive function skills, requiring you to visually scan for memorable shapes, hold them in your working memory, mentally rotate them, and problem-solve as you mentally detangle the images. You also need to utilize inhibition skills and not act too hastily – taking your time figuring out the problem will likely lead to more accurate answers. These skills contribute to daily tasks like navigating a new environment, planning appointments, planning a grocery shopping trip, and navigating using adaptive equipment such as a wheelchair.

This mini packet is great for all ages!

Included inside: 10 pages of executive function worksheets, and bridging questions.

If you like this mini packet, make sure to check out our other visual-spatial worksheets today! → 

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Up for a little celebration? Throughout Fall 2025, we’re celebrating 25 years since HappyNeuron was founded! Work on attention and processing speed in this mini packet, with a celebratory theme! Inspired by our digital exercise, Under Pressure, you’ll be asked to pay attention to stimuli on the screen, and determine whether they are higher or lower than preceding stimuli. This exercise targets processing speed, spatial awareness, and attention skills. These skills are vital for daily tasks like quickly finding an item in a full closet, and paying attention to obstacles and signs while driving.

This mini packet is great for adolescents and adults working on processing speed skills.

Included inside: 3 pages of attention/processing speed worksheets, videos, and bridging questions.

If you like this mini packet, make sure to check out our other attention worksheets today! → 

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toxic-productivity

With this Toxic Productivity Checklist, you can get to know your client’s relationship with productivity, and use it to inform your treatment plan! We offer a variety of session resources for clinicians to use in order to get to know their clients, take notes, provide supplemental activities, and more.

Perfect for fostering growth, mindfulness, and organization, our session resources printables are ideal for use in therapy sessions and as take-home activities. Download and print as needed to support your clients’ journey toward well-being and personal development.

 

What’s included:

  •  1 PDF file which includes Toxic Productivity checklist, and recommended intervention strategies

 

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Work on visual working memory with this adventurous camping-themed mini packet! Inspired by our digital exercise, Chunking, you’ll be asked to recall images of camping items within a grid, and then place them correctly on a blank grid. This exercise targets visual working memory, which is necessary for real-life tasks like cooking, grocery shopping, driving, and much more. It also targets visual-spatial skills which are necessary for navigating the world, remembering where you placed objects, and more!

This mini packet is great for kids and adolescents, and anyone working on visual and working memory skills.

Included inside: 12 pages of visual working memory worksheets, and bridging questions.

If you like this mini packet, make sure to check out our other memory worksheets today! → 

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