🧳 “I want to go back to work”—Unpacking Executive Functions


When you ask a patient about their goals after a brain injury, the answer is often simple:

“I want to go back to work." 💼

And while their communication may be strong, the real challenge often lies beneath the surface, in executive functions. These interconnected cognitive skills are critical, not just for returning to work, but for handling the everyday demands of “adulting."

Executive functions are complex—to understand, assess, and treat. That’s why we've broken it all down for you in our latest blog 👉What SLPs Need to Know: Executive Functioning.

In this blog, we cover:

✅ An overview of the cognitive skills involved in executive functioning 🧠
Causes of executive function deficits (some may surprise you) 🧐
Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) & other assessments📝
Evidence-based treatments like SWAPS and goal-directed approaches 🎯


🧠 Executive Functioning Practice—Made Practical

Finding or creating opportunities to treat executive functioning is also complex—where do you even start with so many skills involved? 😵‍💫

That’s why the Tactus Virtual Rehab Center includes six digital treatments, each targeting executive functioning at different levels to make addressing and practicing these skills easier. 🤓


🎥 Spotlight on "Ranking Solutions to Problems"

Problem solving is a vital part of everyday life—and it relies on many integrated cognitive skills. One often-overlooked skill is weighing possible solutions. ⚖️🤔

That’s where Ranking Solutions to Problems, a digital treatment in the Virtual Rehab Center, comes in, providing an easy, evidence-based way to target these essential critical thinking skills with realistic, real-world problems. 👏

🎥 Check out the video to see it in action!

video preview

📚 Ranking Solutions to Problems is based on the problem-solving component of the Short-Term Executive Plus (STEP) approach (Gordon et al., 2006) and the Steps of Problem-Solving by Ylsivaker & Feeny (1998).

Here's how it works:

✅ Patients read an everyday problem
🔄 They rank possible solutions from best to worst
💬 They reflect on the pros and cons of each choice

This treatment is ideal for both in-session and home practice with levels of complexity that auto-adjust based on accuracy!


💻 Check out all the treatments for FREE!

Sign up for a FREE, 3-week trial of the Virtual Rehab Center today for access to:

  • 45+ innovative evidence-based treatments that work on any device (including 6 executive function treatments!)
  • 75+ printable PDF handouts
  • Auto-generating SOAP notes (time saver!)
  • SMART goal assistant
  • FREE homework for your patients... And more tools you’ll actually use.

👉 Start your 21-day free trial now and let us know what you think!


We know navigating executive functioning (both for our patients and as clinicians!) isn’t easy. We hope this new blog and other resources make it a little more manageable—and give you tools you can use right away. 🧠📋

Thanks for helping your patients build the executive functioning skills they need—from solving everyday problems to achieving big goals like returning to work.💚💼

All the best,

Megan

P.S. Want to read all our new blog posts in one place? You'll now find them under the Learn menu here: https://tactustherapy.com/speech-therapy-guides/

Megan @ Tactus Therapy

I'm a speech-language pathologist & co-founder of Tactus. Tactus offers evidence-based apps for aphasia therapy and lots of free resources, articles, and education - like this newsletter. Sign up to get my updates 1-2 times a month.

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