Staying focused is a skill we take for granted – without attention, it’s tough to get daily activities done, whether it’s grocery shopping, writing an email to an old friend, or just reading a blog. Constant Therapy contains evidence-based therapy exercises that are designed to help people working on strengthening their attention skills. Read on to discover the science behind these tasks.
For survivors, this can be extremely difficult to manage, with attention being necessary for just about everything we do, from the more complex projects we complete at work, to simply having a conversation with a loved one or a friend.
Clinical research has shown us that there are treatment options and compensatory strategies people can use to develop their attention. The Constant Therapy exercises Find the same symbols and Find alternating symbols are two attention-targeting tasks designed for patients looking to strengthen this skill set.
In this scanning exercise, the user must locate the target symbols in a grid, and select the matching symbols.
There are 10 levels, with the number of symbols and the details of the symbols becoming increasingly more challenging.
Scores are calculated in a formula involving the number of errors and the total number of symbols presented. There are two types of errors:
This task is often thought of as one of the common selective attention activities for adults or children, but it addresses other skills as well:
The user is presented with two target symbols (Symbol 1 and Symbol 2) on the left side of the screen. On the right side of the screen, the user will see an assortment of symbols, which they must tap on, alternating between Symbol 1 and Symbol 2, until all the grid symbols are selected.
There are 8 levels, with the number of symbols, details of the symbols, and a number of distractors becoming increasingly more challenging.
Scores are calculated in a formula involving the number of errors and the total number of symbols presented. There are two types of errors:
BONUS: You can increase the demands on attention by presenting multiple stimuli at one time. For example: a user could complete a higher level of Find alternating symbols while listening to a news clip, then answers questions about the news clip to check for comprehension. Having them partake in two activities simultaneously puts considerable demands on their attention network.
Research shows that there’s a close link between cognition and language in people with aphasia (Vallila-Rohter and Kiran, 2017). Helm-Estabrooks (2016) discusses the “rather compelling research evidence that attention is a potent factor in the auditory comprehension performance” of people with aphasia (67). One study had people with aphasia participate in a cognitive treatment that targeted attention, memory, numbers, and math, problem-solving, and visuospatial skills. While this treatment did not target language skills, participants showed significant improvements in auditory comprehension post-treatment.
For individuals working on cognitive skills, there is a well-researched paper on scanning tasks that provides a meta-analysis (a grouping of various research on a specific topic) on whether scanning tasks are effective (Berryman et al., 2010). Scanning tasks can help improve visual field loss and visual inattention, specifically deficits affecting attention following stroke or traumatic brain injury.
Attention targeting tasks are especially helpful when presented in a low-stress environment or used in sensory-motor integration. Find the same symbols and Find alternating symbols were designed with this kind of integration in mind. Sensory-motor integration is frequently referenced in treatment for speech, language, and cognitive deficits, and refers to integrating a person’s sensory system (the 5 senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell) with their motor system (anything requiring muscles).
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My husband had a stroke and has P.T. at least four times a week, and speech therapy once a week. He has come a long way with healing. Am I able to purchase a program for his Ipad for the symbol program that I saw on this website?
Kathleen- Happy to hear that your husband has come so far. Constant Therapy is a fantastic way to continue the progress with at-home therapy. And yes, the symbol program is part of the Constant Therapy program — which includes over 500,000 evidence-based therapies, and 85 categories. We offer a free 2-week trial if you’d like to test-drive it first. Learn more here: https://constanttherapyhealth.com/constant-therapy/for-patients/