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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Practice memorizing visual sequences with this ice cream-themed hybrid mini packet. Inspired by our digital exercise, Find Your Way, you’ll need to remember a path between different colors of ice cream scoops on the screen, and then recall them in order to construct a delicious ice cream cone in the worksheet packet. Working between screen and paper provides an extra challenge for exercising your memory!

The cognitive skills used in this exercise are used for daily tasks such as creating a to do list in a logical order, or remembering the steps to a recipe.

Included inside: 6 pages of visual memory worksheets, videos, and bridging questions.

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

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Practice visual working memory and recalling sequences with this mini packet. Inspired by our digital exercise, N-Back, you’ll need to remember a specific sequence of colors in the correct order, recalling longer sequences as the levels get more difficult.

The cognitive abilities used in this exercise are important for skills such as remembering items on a to-do list or following a recipe.

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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Practice verbal memory, language comprehension, and inhibitory control with these hybrid verbal memory worksheets with a video component! Inspired by our digital exercise, Secret Files, you’ll need to sort words into categories, and figure out what the categories are as the levels get more difficult.

The cognitive skills used in this exercise are important for skills such as organizing and strategizing. These skills are used when creating a to-do list, sorting items in your home, and holding information in your brain such as the people you’re inviting to a party.

Included inside: 6 pages of verbal memory worksheets, 3 videos, and bridging questions.

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

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Help your client exercise executive functions like planning and inhibitory control with this colorful exercise. Jump between paints on a palette organizing them in alphabetical and numerical order. You’ll need to work as quickly as possible while alternating between different types of stimuli as the exercises get more difficult.

Inspired by our digital exercise, Hurray For Change, this mini packet requires you to sort information while utilizing inhibition to avoid making mistakes. These skills are needed for tasks like writing, following instructions, and driving.

Included inside: 9 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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Exercise working memory and divided attention skills with this fun mini packet! In these visual working memory worksheets, you’ll memorize a book cover, do a distracting exercise, and then recreate the book cover using the options provided.

Inspired by our digital exercise, Heraldry, this mini packet requires you to memorize visual information while distracting you with other information to really test your memory. The distraction provides an extra layer of difficulty and makes you work your memory even more!

Memorizing visual information is a skill that is necessary for daily life. We utilize this skill when following directions on a GPS, identifying medications, and following signs in a building or subway system. This exercise is designed to work on visual working memory and dividing attention between two tasks. Challenge your brain’s capacity to handle tasks that demand working memory and divided attention!

Included inside: 12 pages of visual working memory worksheets, 3 videos, and bridging questions.

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

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