Rehabilitation of sensory and cognitive function typically involves methods for retraining neural pathway

Neural pathway

A neural pathway, neural tract, or neural face, connects one part of the nervous system with another and usually consists of bundles of elongated, myelin-insulated neurons, known collectively as white matter...

s or training new neural pathways to regain or improve neurocognitive functioning that has been diminished by disease or traumatic

Physical trauma

Trauma refers to "a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident." It can also be described as "a physical wound or injury, such as a fracture or blow." Major trauma can result in secondary complications such as circulatory shock, respiratory failure and death...

 injury.

Three common neuropsychological problems treatable with rehabilitation are attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), concussion, and spinal cord injury

Spinal cord injury

A spinal cord injury refers to any injury to the spinal cord that is caused by trauma instead of disease. Depending on where the spinal cord and nerve roots are damaged, the symptoms can vary widely, from pain to paralysis to incontinence...

.

Methods

Speech therapy, occupational therapy

Occupational therapy

Occupational therapy is a discipline that aims to promote health by enabling people to perform meaningful and purposeful activities. Occupational therapists work with individuals who suffer from a mentally, physically, developmentally, and/or emotionally disabling condition by utilizing treatments...

, and other methods that "exercise" specific brain functions are used. For example eye-hand coordination exercises may rehabilitate certain motor deficits, or well structured planning and organizing exercises might help rehabilitate certain frontal lobe "executive functions" of the brain following a traumatic blow to the head.

Brain functions that are impaired because of traumatic brain injuries are often the most challenging and difficult to rehabilitate. Much work is being done in nerve regeneration for the most severely damaged neural pathways.

Neurocognitive

Neurocognitive

Neurocognitive is a term used to describe cognitive functions closely linked to the function of particular areas, neural pathways, or cortical networks in the brain substrate layers of neurological matrix at the cellular molecular level...

 techniques, such as cognitive rehabilitation therapy

Cognitive rehabilitation therapy

Cognitive rehabilitation therapy is a program to help brain-injured or otherwise cognitively impaired individuals to restore normal functioning, or to compensate for cognitive deficits. It entails an individualized program of specific skills training and practice plus metacognitive strategies...

, provide assessment and treatment of cognitive impairments from a variety of brain diseases and insults that cause persistent disability for many individuals. Such disabilities result in a loss of independence, a disruption in normal childhood activities and social relationships, loss in school attendance, and educational and employment opportunities. Injuries or insults that may benefit from neurocognitive rehabilitation include traumatic and acquired brain injuries (stroke, concussion, neurosurgery, etc.), cranial radiation, intrathecal chemotherapy and neurological disorders such as ADHD.
The rehabilitation targets cognitive functions such as attention, memory, and executive functioning (organization, planning, time management, etc.). Programs are developed to address an individual's challenges after a baseline assessment of abilities and challenges.

ADHD

There are many therapists and interventions for rehabilitation of children and adults who suffer ADHD, many of whom are parents of children with this problem. The most frequently used treatment method involves drugs such as Ritalin, and many argue that drugs do not rehabilitate but only relieve ADHD sufferers (and those around them) from the social and behavioral disruptiveness caused by attention deficiencies and hyperactive behavior.

However, many others argue that such symptom relief enables the sufferer and those around him or her to improve cognitive and motor functioning and controls through standard educational and social training that would otherwise be impossible.

The next most common rehabilitation approach for ADHD uses various and specific cognitive/behavioral methods to help establish new brain-behavior relationships or functioning that is impaired in sufferers of ADHD.

Concussion

Much research and focus has been given to concussion suffered frequently by athletes. While the severity of brain trauma

Traumatic brain injury

Traumatic brain injury , also known as intracranial injury, occurs when an external force traumatically injures the brain. TBI can be classified based on severity, mechanism , or other features...

 has been standardized for immediate "sideline" assessment, much work needs to be done to understand how to rehabilitate or accelerate the rehabilitation of athletes' brain function following serious concussion—where consciousness is lost

Coma

In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...

for a few moments or more. Currently, rehabilitation of concussive brain injury is based on "quiet" time without jarring motions that enables the brain to "heal" on its own.

Rehabilitation research and practices are a fertile area for clinical neuropsychologists and others.