SPEECH THERAPISTS AND BRAIN INJURY REHABILITATION PROFESSIONALS
Janet Hart Mott, PhD, CRC, CLCP, CCM, Mott Rehabilitation Services,
Edmonds, Washington
My experience with Kathy goes back 12 years, and I have found that her approach to brain injury compensation works well for many individuals with brain injury -- in some cases in situations where professionals and family members felt there was no hope for improved self-reliance.
I first met Kathy when she was giving a presentation on her "BRAIN BOOK System" at a Washington State Brain Injury Association conference. I was deeply impressed. Every strategy -- not to mention every detail of its implementation -- was well thought out and carefully executed at the tactical level. I was also impressed that virtually every principle she had incorporated into the BRAIN BOOK™ System conformed to the principles I had found to be effective in my 40-year practice. Kathy had simply applied everything she had learned in rehab (as a patient several years earlier) into one comprehensive, flexible, intuitive system that many people with brain injury could learn, even if they did not have the benefit of professional therapists to guide them.
Importantly, Kathy focused on common patterns. Kathy is known for saying, "While every brain injury may be different, when it comes to the ways in which they are "the same," we can learn from each other by sharing common strategies that work for all of us." That, and, "You may know your limitations, (without compensatory training), but do you know your potential (if you could master compensation skills)?" This focus is important. In my professional opinion, Kathy has been quietly establishing a new standard in brain injury rehabilitation. I predict that twenty years from now, her approach will be the standard and that her focus -- which is less on adjusting expectations and being dependent on others, and more on reaching for one's potential and becoming increasingly self-reliant -- will be the norm.
Equally important, Kathy did not build a system that simply worked for her (assuming it would work for others). During the first five years of its development, the BRAIN BOOK™ System was widely field-tested (vocational rehabilitation settings in three states and at a skills training facility in Medford, Oregon). The results of those students' experiences were incorporated into current materials and this too, is important. Brain injury rehabilitation is fraught with "mine fields" and false assumptions. Kathy's simple approach -- to use (and refine) those strategies and tactics that work for the most people most of the time -- is much of the reason I am willing to endorse her approach. As those of us know who have been working on the front-lines of rehabilitation for more than a few years, it can many years (perhaps as much as five or ten years) to know if a particular approach works. I can attest to the fact that many of Kathy's students have taken what they have learned and applied it to work and school over three, five and ten year periods time. In brain injury rehabilitation, this is precedent-setting. While some people who learned her System have continued to use her materials, others have not. But, either way, what many (perhaps most) of them HAVE done, is retain the principles of compensation that enable them to continue to grow and learn.
Kathy has maintained a low profile over the years. I have been encouraging her to have a larger presence and, in particular, develop an electronic version of her products so people who are shopping for electronic memory aides and PDAs would have this wonderful system to consider. I am happy to report that an electronic version of the BRAIN BOOK™ System is now in the works. Called My Bionic Brain™, I fully expect the electronic version of the BRAIN BOOK™ System to fulfill all the expectations that have been heretofore unfulfilled -- in part, because the electronic devices that have been developed to date only address bits and pieces of the compensation "problem" persons with brain injury experience. Please feel free to contact me at the e-mail address below if you have any interest in participating in the beta test for this exciting new resource.
While it is true that the BRAIN BOOK™ System does not work for everyone with a brain injury, it is also true that it contains -- by far -- the best specially-designed dayplanner and support system available anywhere. The materials Kathy developed to support it -- including new webinar delivery resources --make her BRAIN BOOK™ System unlike anything available anywhere in the world.
What I especially value is Kathy's unrelenting focus on helping people with brain injury become as self-reliant as possible (for them) by teaching them how to generalize what they learn to new areas. While this is a notoriously difficult issue for many, Kathy's methods work for many. What is a true testament to her methods is that even if f someone learns the System and abandons it for another one, if they apply principles and strategies to new situations, they have accomplished the objective.
I encourage anyone who is considering either a dayplanner-based compensatory skills system (whether the person is in rehab, at home or returning to work) -- or if you are considering an electronic device -- I encourage you to look at some sample sections from the BRAIN BOOK website, or give Kathy a call to see if you or your family member or client/patient, qualifies to be part of the pilot test project for My Bionic Brain™. Kathy calls a BRAIN BOOK™ a "paper brain," so it follows that the electronic version would be a "bionic brain." I expect it will be just that -- an electronics-driven device that will replicate all the cognitive functions many/most people with brain injury need to be able to function effectively in day-to-day life. I welcome speaking to you about this excellent resource.
Janet Mott
jhmott@mottrehab.com
Dodie Newman, M.A., C.C.C. SLP, Mercy Outpatient Rehabilitation Center, Roseville, California
"I have been using BRAIN BOOK® System principles and materials in my practice for over ten years now -- both for early cognitive rehabilitation and for vocational rehabilitation, and Kathy's BRAIN BOOK® System has stood the test of time.
I offered to write something for Kathy because I want other professionals to know that her BRAIN BOOK® System is, by far, the best compensatory skills training system I have ever used. Speech Pathologists are often in the position where we have to create materials for our patients -- or we try to help them use commercial day planners they bring with them from home. I am no exception. For years my colleagues and I have tried to create tools ourselves (planners and calendars), but they pale in comparison to the materials Kathy has developed.
In my professional opinion -- when it comes to providing cognitive rehabilitation therapy for persons with brain injury -- other commercial planners, or materials we try to develop ourselves are not nearly as effective as the specialized materials in the BRAIN BOOK® System. I've worked with patients with brain injury for 22 years, and for many patients, when I use BRAIN BOOK® System principles and materials, you can often see an immediate difference they make.
I am particularly excited to hear about the "bionic brain project" (the electronic version of the BRAIN BOOK®), because ever since I discovered Kathy's System, I've wanted to use it in electronic form -- basically to replace all the other electronic devices I and my patients have tried. I give Kathy and her BRAIN BOOK® System my unqualified recommendation. If nothing else, every speech pathologist who works with patients with brain injury owes it to themselves and their patients to consider it. Feel free to contact me if you would like additional information."
Dodie Newman
dodienewman@gmail.com
C. David Roberts, Ph.D., C.R.C, Research Professor, Graduate Faculty, School of Health Professions, University of Missouri-Columbia
While I cannot speak to the specific use of Kathy's BRAIN BOOK™ System products, I cancomment on the expertise she has developed over the years in the area of compensatory strategies for persons with brain injury -- particularly when a person with brain injury wants to return to work.
I met Kathy 10 years ago at a conference and was immediately struck by the wisdom and clarity she seemed to possess. I learned that she was one of the fortunate few who, "back in the day" (early 1990's), after receiving a brain injury diagnosed as moderate TBI, she received five months of full-time state-of-the-art residential rehabilitation treatment, followed by nine more months of outpatient treatment that included vocational rehabilitation, as well. Her interest in helping others with brain injury who did not have the benefit of this level of rehabilitation therapy was apparent, and I immediately commissioned her to write an advice column for a website I was responsible for overseeing (www.TBIMO.org), and the "Ask Kathy M" advice column was born. Over the years "Ask Kathy M” has been a consistent favorite.
The advice Ms. Moeller offers is rooted in sound brain injury rehabilitation principles, but is put in a form that survivors of brain injury appear to immediately relate to. Although the funding for the TBIMO.org project ended several years ago, I and my staff have continued to maintain the website, largely so we can continue to provide this outstanding advice column to persons with brain injury and their families. In particular, professionals who work in the field of vocational rehabilitation will benefit from the experience Ms. Moeller has gathered since her own recovery began 17 years ago.
As background for my comments, the University of Missouri's Region 7 Rehabilitation Continuing Education Program (RCEP7) developed the TBIMO.org website as part of the Missouri TBI Demonstration Project in 1997 (www.rcep7.org). When we heard Ms. Moeller speak at a conference in 1997, we already knew of her work with the Nebraska pilot (using specialized materials she had developed to support workers with brain injury). I have worked specifically in the field of brain injury rehabilitation for more than 30 years, and have seldom seen the kind of response Ms. Moeller receives. Her pre-injury education and work experience -- coupled with the many months of formal rehabilitation therapy she received -- appear to have prepared her well for the work she now does helping others with brain injury return to work and school. In fact, I am hoping to begin collaborating with her to write a book, utilizing her many years of peer-to-peer research.
Speaking of research, I recently learned that one of the e-mail support and discussion lists Kathy started up in 1997, TBI-WORKING, now contains 10 years of archived posts that participants on the listserv can search in order to learn how others with brain injury cope and compensate at work. This is a resource unlike anything that exists anywhere, as little research has been done on long-term recovery and rehabilitation following brain injury. I invite persons with brain injury, their families, and front-line professionals and academics alike, to solicit Kathy's advice and counsel, as I believe Ms. Moeller is on the forefront of developing an entirely new paradigm for brain injury rehabilitation. I particularly look forward to the electronic product Kathy is currently working to develop.
Dave Roberts
RobertsC@missouri.edu
Research Professor & Director
Rehabilitation Continuing Education Programs, Disability Policy & Studies |
