Cognition
Cognition consists of the mental processes involved in acquiring and learning new information through a seemingly effortless process.
When our cognitive processes are in ship-shape, we can make real-world decisions with success and ease. Everyday tasks such as communicating with others, reading, preparing meals, attending appointments and remembering life events are possible because of cognition. When someone experiences difficulties with their thinking, any of the following abilities may be impacted:
- Attention
- Concentration
- Memory
- Orientation
- Word retrieval
Executive functioning skills, such as problem-solving, organization, sequencing and reasoning.
An experienced speech-language pathologist can differentiate between a cognitive disorder and a language disorder. Our responsibility at Progressive Therapy Associates is to help you figure out what is going on and what to do about it. While word retrieval might be affected by cognitive changes, it also could be the result of a patient suffering from aphasia, which affects production of words and language. For example, a patient may not be able to say what they had for breakfast – not because they really cannot remember the meal, but because they cannot think of the word, “omelet.” It is important to be able to pinpoint the root cause of these impairments to minimize frustration on the patient’s end and to provide the most effective treatment possible.
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