Conceptual Retraining of Brain-Damaged Adults

Abstract

A method for conceptually retraining brain-damaged adults was devised. The idea evolved from the work of three investigators: Delacato, Piaget, and Vygotsky. The method involves teaching the brain-damaged person to use increasingly complex schemas. The concepts begin with the simple ones of shape and color and progress to more complex ones such as “it makes noise” and “edible.” An exploratory study using randomized experimental and control groups of seven persons yielded positive results. The experimental patients were able to use concepts they had been taught as well as to build new concepts significantly better than the control patients. Relative youth, and greater education, together with the treatment, seem to have been effective in producing greater conceptual power among members of the experimental group.