The BRAIN BOOK^® System addresses cognitive impairment in one comprehensive, practical system and can be adapted to any lifestyle and phase of recovery, including going back to work. Many people start with the BRAIN BOOK^® System and, after learning the skills, move on to use other systems and planners. After all, that's the goal - to learn the skills, then transfer them to other life areas.

The BRAIN BOOK^® System is appropriate for orienting a newly injured person to their environment (answering questions such as "Where am I?" or "What happened to me?) They will also have tools for tracking appointments, writing useable (find-able) "Memory Notes" and managing ADL’s. The best news is that once mastered, this will be the same system the person uses at home and when he or she returns to work. Students, business people, homemakers, laborers, artists and others will all find that the System will meet their needs.

The BRAIN BOOK^® System is a flexible system that can be adapted to all levels and all walks of life. The common denominator is that it is designed to meet the special needs of someone who has had a brain injury!

The BRAIN BOOK^® System is based on a teaching model rather than a "rehabilitation model." Based upon the premise persons with brain injury have acquired learning disabilities, the BRAIN BOOK^® program uses proven educational principles to build a foundation of basics.

The BRAIN BOOK^® teaching program uses three basic principles of how students learn after acquiring learning disabilities from brain injury:

Students need specialized tools

The BRAIN BOOK^® approach focuses on compensation rather than "repair." Students use their natural abilities and residual cognitive strengths to learn to compensate. Memory cueing tapes and other teaching aids are available to encourage "massed practice" (also known as "overlearning") so students access procedural memory to learn skills and strategies. Work sheets, "Owner's Manuals" and other educational support materials are available to students and their coaches.

The first step is having an appropriate tool, or assistive device. The BRAIN BOOK^® is such a "device." Every element of its design keeps the needs of a person with brain injury in the forefront -- from the design and layout of the pages to the color and texture of the paper. We believe the BRAIN BOOK^® is the first turnkey day planner/life manager in existence that meets most of the cognitive needs of persons with brain injury.

Rather than giving the person with brain injury a commercial day planner designed to meet the needs of a busy executive, and expect them to adapt it, we provide the new learner with a specialized planner/life manager designed to meet THEIR needs! By having a BRAIN BOOK^®, a person with brain injury does not have the added burden of revising and adapting something designed for persons without memory or organizational impairments. With a BRAIN BOOK^® the learner can focus on the skills and strategies they need to regain his or her former life.

The BRAIN BOOK^® replicates cognitive function on paper. With training, a person with brain injury can learn where to find, retrieve and manipulate the same information he or she used to be able to store and manipulate without assistance. The BRAIN BOOK^® has been likened to a "cognitive wheelchair," and many of our students refer to their BRAIN BOOK^® as their "paper brain."

Students need specialized instruction

The BRAIN BOOK^® program is introduced in steps so the person can build success upon a solid foundation of the basics. Students are given introductory work sheets and instructional tapes to build foundational skills. They are encouraged to master foundational skills before moving on to more complex functions.

The BRAIN BOOK^® works by breaking down tasks for all primary life activities into essential steps. Transferred into book form, the person with memory and organizational impairments can immediately see and follow the steps to regain function. To see an example of how cognitive functions are replicated on paper, prospective users are encouraged to review and/or order sample pages.

The BRAIN BOOK^® program is designed to be learned over 6 to 18 months or a longer period of time, depending on the severity of injury, the person's motivation and their pre-injury skills.

Students have several options for acquiring skills training. They include traveling to Oregon and coming to our school, learning skills via distance-learning options on the Internet, participating in a day program that may be closer to your home, or perhaps obtaining skills training and other related services from their local Vocational Rehabilitation office.

Students need adequate time

Learning any new skill following brain injury takes time. Building a whole set of new cognitive and life skills takes time. Integrating new skills into one's personal and work life takes time!

There is no "quick fix" to the complex difficulties people with brain injury face in their daily lives. It takes time to learn how to write the kinds of Memory Notes a person will need to retrieve in the future. It takes time to learn strategies for quickly retrieving Memory Notes and being able to effectively use them. It takes time to learn how to organize one's thoughts in preparation for a meeting, interview, appointment or shopping trip. It takes time to learn to schedule appointments, travel time and personal "appointments with yourself." It takes time to learn strategies for managing troubling feelings.

The BRAIN BOOK^® program helps a person replicate these and other cognitive functions on paper. All this new learning takes time! In the "scheme of things," these time frames are a drop in the bucket compared to the number of years in front of the person. In the world of traditional rehabilitation and insurance funding, such time frames may be unreasonable or unaffordable. That's why the BRAIN BOOK^® program is designed to be affordable and accessable through state divisions of Vocational Rehabilitation. After the basics are mastered, follow-through can often be completed independently at home.

Building a Foundation
The way the program is taught is important for long-term learning. To give you an idea of how the program builds on a solid foundation of basics, the following outline breaks down how the program is taught. The program is taught in steps: