The STEPS™ (Strategies to Enhance cognitive Processing Skills) program is a three fold intensive training program for high-functioning patients with brain injury. It is divided into several modules. The goal of the program is to teach patients compensatory cognitive skills that will allow them to become maximally independent and return to complex demand of multifaceted life.

The program is geared:

To facilitate patients' return to gainful employment

To facilitate patients' ability to sustain gainful employment to and ability to sustain gainful employment and/or

To ensure their ability to participate in classes and successfully complete college level coursework

The STEPS™ Program has 3 training components:

Cognitive Seminar: 1 hour group seminar per day. The cognitive seminar consists of an interactive lecture in which aspects of cognition, language or executive functioning are defined. Compensatory strategies to improve skills are then introduced.

Cognitive Re-training: 2 hour cognitive re-training session per day. The intent of the cognitive re-training program is to provide an opportunity for the patient to practice the skills identified in the cognitive modules and to learn how to employ compensatory strategies.

Individual treatment: 1 hour individual treatment session twice per week. The purpose of the individual treatment session is to further refine the patients understanding of the deficits and to tailor the compensatory strategies to meet each patient's unique-individual needs for their particular vocational or academic situations. In addition, the patients will have the opportunity to discuss with the clinician the difficulties they are having. Finally, individual setting will allow the patient to fine-tune pragmatic skills that will enhance their group interactions.

Thus, each aspect of the rehabilitation program is systematically staged to:

define the area of cognition being addressed

discuss cognitive deficits resulting from brain injury (develops awareness)

define the appropriate compensations

tailor the compensation to meet the patient's needs

provide an opportunity for the client to practice the learned skills

BENEFITS OF THE STEPS™ PROGRAM:

The impairments of cognition, language and executive function skills can negatively effect the psychosocial skills of an individual with a brain injury. Group therapy serves as an excellent setting to improve cognitive and psychosocial skills for successful interaction in the complex social matrixes.

The group serves as a support network for all the individuals, allowing them an opportunity to be with others who have experienced similar problems. The patients may learn strategies and techniques from other members in the group that on their own they would not have considered. Observing the success of others in the group promotes hope and encourages optimism.

Appropriate behaviors in social interactions are modeled for clients with social skill difficulties.

Group treatment provides an excellent context for applying the skills learned in individual therapy to a more naturalistic but safe situation.

Individuals with brain injuries often have difficulties estimating their cognitive and psychosocial deficits. They may underestimate and/or deny the existence of impairments or conversely, an individual might be overly focused on impairment and may exaggerate the magnitude of their deficits. Feedback received in a group setting provides an opportunity for them to reassess their perception of their behaviors.