10 tips to get motivated to practice brain rehabilitation therapy at home
This is a follow-up to an article written by clinician Emily Dubas De Oliveira, MS, CCC-SLP, which originally appeared in the ASHA Leader.
They say “practice makes perfect”— and nowhere is this truer than for individuals recovering from a brain injury like stroke or TBI. Research shows that the repetition of science-based speech and cognitive therapy tasks is key to successful brain rehabilitation. Practice re-establishes communication between the injured parts of the brain and the body and therefore is critical to help survivors move toward independence and improved quality of life.
As a clinician, you typically assign your patients cognitive and speech therapy exercises to practice at home as part of brain rehabilitation. If you’re using Constant Therapy in your sessions, you’ll assign and track homework within the app. Unfortunately, the thought of doing additional practice (or “homework”) between therapy sessions, may feel daunting to many people. As well, cognitive impairments, the severity of a disorder, level of family involvement, access to resources, and physical or mental health can all affect at-home practice.
To provide an extra boost of motivation to start a home practice habit, we’ve created this infographic to help you provide your clients with tips on how to do this as part of their brain rehabilitation.
Many variables influence motivation to practice new therapy skills at home
Speech-language pathologists can benefit from understanding how people are motivated to practice brain rehabilitation. Some are motivated intrinsically, extrinsically or only when the feeling is right. Learning about types of motivation gave me a new perspective that changed my practice. I now see many more clients successfully carry over skills we work on in sessions to their home environment.
Although strategies vary depending on the person, motivational strategies like building in rewards and accountability, using a planner, or setting goals are particularly effective.
What tips would you suggest to help get motivated? Let us know in the comments below.
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