Accessibility Panel

Our understanding of trauma, traumatic brain injury, and overall brain health has grown remarkably over the years. However, in countless cases, patients in various stages of declining health from a traumatic brain injury go unrecognized throughout many areas of our conventional medical system.  

There are significant gaps in brain injury care, from a lack of consistent TBI health protocols, referrals to specialists, delays in diagnosis, patient understanding, patient education, and access to advanced medical professionals at the forefront of innovative diagnostics, effective treatment plans, and mental health counseling specializing in brain injury.

An exclusive neuroplasticity rehab program aimed at helping patients with brain injuries rediscover their metacognitive voice improves cognition and learning permanently.

Understanding what neuroplasticity rehab offers patients who have suffered a traumatic brain injury can redefine hope, even years after the original injury.

The definition of neuroplasticity can vary. Dr Donalee Markus, PhD, leading neuroplasticity and cognitive rehabilitation expert, started Designs for Strong Minds in 1983. 

Her extensive neuroplasticity rehab program has improved the lives of thousands of patients throughout the world. It is aimed at patients who have suffered a mild to moderate post-traumatic head injury 

What sets Dr Markus's DSM neuroplasticity program apart from traditional brain injury rehabilitation? It is her insight and ability to test patients for disrupting the metacognitive expression inside their brains.

An article presenting Dr Markus and the Designs for Strong Minds program states, "Post-injury, individuals tend to have lost the use of internal dialogue that helps monitor behavior; their use of metacognitive conversation; 

Clients have little understanding of their metacognition before acquiring brain impairment. Because much of our cognitive functioning is reflex, they had little reason to consider metacognitive processes in everyday life."

Her one-of-a-kind neuroplasticity rehab program helps patients learn how to recognize and significantly improve the brain's entire network of metacognition. Due to the program's continued success, Dr Markus extended therapy options for patients using Strong Mind Puzzles, a mobile application for TBI survivors.  

The puzzles were made for patients to have easy and ongoing access to rehab tools to improve their internal dialogue required for cognitive reorganization.

Patients who took part in the DSM program exhibited dramatic improvements in processing, analyzing, communication skills, mental flexibility, memory, and much more. Moreover, patients improved their ability to recognize their thinking processes and learning behaviors, which is essential to daily functioning.  

Another special part of Dr Markus's brain injury rehab program is the imaginatively designed visual puzzle. The multidimensional puzzles are a concept much different from anything in TBI patients' recovery. They use graphic puzzles to enhance and develop substitute ways of thinking and doing.

DSM puzzles and methods dig into the human visual systems. To solve the puzzles, the learner must experience both the depth and breadth of neurocognitive restructuring. They have to visualize the conditions that make some answers logical and others illogical. The treatment must include repetition so that the cognitive behavior becomes habitual.  

Patients learn to reach beyond their limitations during therapy, taking recovery to an entirely new level. Understanding how neuroplasticity works and the commitment and ongoing participation required for recovery from traumatic brain injury enhance the opportunity for remarkable recovery outcomes.