Skills in Handling Money after Traumatic Brain Injuries

As a start to this discussion, and to help understand some of the innovative rehabilitation that NeuLife Rehab provides to Clients in their quest for independence, it is important to understand that there are several phases, or types, of memory.

Many of our Clients, because of their traumatic brain injuries, have an impaired ability to perform some, or all, activities of daily living (ADLs), including those that require memory skills. The professionals at NeuLife Rehab are uniquely equipped to help   memory rehabilitation and specialized rehabilitation and many other aspects of a Client’s post-acute care. Among the professionals available to NeuLife Rehab Clients include:

• Board Certified Neurologist
• Board Certified Behavior Analyst
• Board Certified Physiatrist
• Neuropsychologist
• Psychologist
• Board Certified Psychiatrist
• Speech Language Pathologist/Cognitive Therapist
• Physical Therapist
• Occupational Therapist
• Nurses
• Certified Rehab Counselor

There are several types of memory. They include:

• Long Term Memory. This is fundamentally the vast store of knowledge and events that most people possess. It may not always be perfect, but it is large both in quantity and generally, in the duration that it encompasses.
• Short Term Memory. This refers to that element of memory that permits an individual to retain a limited amount of information in an accessible state for a relatively short period of time.[1]
• Working memory is very different and more complex than the other types, although it does bear a closer connection to short term memory than to long term memory. It consists of the processes within the brain that not only store information (like short term memory does) but also to manipulate the information so that it can be used in a way other than by mere repetition. The beauty of it, and that which NeuLife Rehab strives to help Clients regain, is the ability to perform tasks, including activities of daily living (ADLs) independently to the extent that their physical and mental condition allows. Deficits in working memory are common results of traumatic brain injuries.

Among the cognitive deficits that can result from a traumatic brain injury, whether catastrophic or mild, is damage to an individual’s working memory. One of the important daily functions in which working memory is involved is the very basic one of counting and handling money. Since the goal of NeuLife Rehab is to achieve independence for its Clients, it is critical that this skill be mastered to ensure the best possible outcome for them after post-acute care. It may sound simple, but it isn’t. Handling money involves recognizing denominations of coins and of paper money, adding them, making change and other complex mathematical functions. Therefore, when an individual becomes a Client of NeuLife Rehab in Mount Dora, Florida, if the independent functional evaluation discloses that the Client is unable to count or to otherwise handle money, a very specialized part of the Client Goal Plan will include this important element of specialized rehabilitation.

How is it done? A variety of therapies can and will be utilized by NeuLife Rehab, some of which may include:

• Relearning about money (what it is and what it does)
• Identifying coin by name
• Identifying coins by value/denomination
• Adding and subtracting by value/denomination
• Worksheets with options as to what can be purchased with stated amount of money
• Similar exercises with paper money

Proper and timely post-acute rehabilitation that may determine the difference between disability and independence is what NeuLife refers to as the “platinum post-acute period” —  the crucial window following acute care that is needed to nurture the whole person to health with specialized, clinically relevant services.

NeuLife’s philosophy is that healing, wellness and personal fulfillment are best achieved in a positive and uplifting therapeutic environment where caring staff encourages, assists and supports each client so he or she may achieve specific goals. NeuLife believes personal fulfillment is equally as important as goals to achieve function and independence.

NeuLife, in Mount Dora, Florida, is an accessible residential post-acute program providing specialized rehabilitation to individuals diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), Amputations, Burns and other Catastrophic Injuries and Challenging Diagnoses.

2725 Robie Avenue

Mount Dora, Florida 32757

[1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2657600/