Did you know that 60% of stroke survivors experience cognitive impairments within the first year (Mulhern, 2023)? Medical diagnoses that include cognitive-communication disorders are seen in all settings, making cognition the largest and fastest-growing part of the SLP scope of practice.

Yet, surveys reveal that many SLPs don’t feel confident managing cognitive-communication disorders and don’t recognize themselves as cog-com experts (Riedeman & Turkstra, 2018). 🤔🤯

That's why we're diving back into blogging this year to bring you an in-depth series on What SLPs Need to Know about cognitive rehabilitation, starting with the bottom of the cognitive hierarchy: Attention. 🧠

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Why Attention Matters ‼️

Cognitive rehab focuses on improving skills like attention, memory, and executive functioning –key for communication and daily life. 🚶💭 Attention, in particular, is foundational:

• Attention impacts recovery in all therapies - including speech, occupational, and physical.
• It's one of the most commonly impaired domains after stroke (Loetscher et al., 2019).
• Up to 50% of stroke survivors experience attention deficits that persist for years (Barker‐Collo 2010; Hyndman 2003).

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Why Treating Attention is so Complicated ⁉️

Attention isn’t a single skill—it’s a spectrum of interrelated abilities, like sustaining focus, shifting between tasks, and managing distractions. The research is sparse on what works for improving attention, so we need to make sure what we're doing is going to work.

We’ve broken it all down for you in our newest blog article:
👉 What SLPs Need to Know: Treating Attention in Speech Therapy
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Because without attention, progress in other areas becomes nearly impossible.

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An AMAZING New Treatment for Attention 🤯

Looking for an innovative (and functional) way to treat high-level attention? Check out the Virtual Rehab Center’s new Working With Disruptions treatment. It's so cool. 🧑‍💻️

Patients use a simulated smartphone to practice attention strategies while juggling realistic digital tasks like entering data with distractions like calls, texts, and emails.📱 📞

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• 📚 Learn more: help.rehab.tactustherapy.com​
• 🚀 Try it FREE for 3 weeks: tactustherapy.com/rehab​

Thanks for keeping your focus where it matters—on your patients. Let us help you feel more confident tackling cognitive-communication disorders.

👉 Start with our free Treating Attention guide: https://tactustherapy.com/treating-attention-in-speech-therapy-slp-cognition/​

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All the best,

Megan

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P.S. Did you know? You can download dozens of PDF handouts in the Resource Vault of the Virtual Rehab Center, including a summary of our Treating Attention guide! Start now.​