Hi Everyone,
We are very lucky to have a great team working with Corey. This includes one of our favorite nurses, Jamie. We have adopted Jamie as one of our own. Even though she is 2 years older than JohnPaul, she doesn’t want to be the oldest, so she has decided to join Caitlin as the middle child.
Today Jamie discovered something new in Corey’s cognitive recovery.
When a person acquires a brain injury, the neurological damage is difficult to predict. It depends on which part of the brain was injured and to what degree. Corey’s injury was so severe, anything we disclose is amazing progress. One example from Corey’s case is her inability to read.
Corey can write any vocabulary word dictated to her, however, she can not consistently recognize the letters of the alphabet. If a person without brain injury can’t recognize the letters of the alphabet, technically they can not read or write. This particular example has intrigued the Neurological community as we are beginning to share some of the cognitive deficits and experiments we are trialing with Corey.
Another example falls in the math category. Corey doesn’t recognize numbers if they are out of sequence but she can add and subtract (multiplication is still not consistent). Forgive me if I am repeating a story I may have already posted (and you worry about Corey!), another trial has been working with currency.
Several months ago we placed a 100, 50, 20, 10, 5 and 1 dollar bill in a row in front of Corey. We asked her if she could tell us what they were. She exploded with frustration. I asked her what she saw. “A boy” (pointing to the President) “and a circle” (the USA crest).
We pointed to the four corners and asked her what she saw; “Flowers” (no number). We still wonder if she can’t see the bills or if the detail on each bill is too much for her to process. I verbally explained each bill, the President pictured and the monetary value. Then I asked her if she knew how much there was. Without hesitation she declared, “$186”. (We had to go back and double check our math…she was right)
Today Jamie and Corey were virtually shopping on the IPad (one of their favorite past times). Jamie was quoting prices and asking Corey to round up, round down, take a percentage off for sale items etc. She reported that overall, Corey did well. Just for fun, Jamie took out her wallet and the girls began to play with real money. One of the bills was facing down and Corey picked it up announcing the correct value. Jamie showed her the back of multiple bills and Corey identified each bill correctly; except for the 1 dollar bill…she can’t identify that bill face up or down. But she can see the numbers on the back for all the others! To verify, if we flip the bill face up…she can not identify them. This is fascinating!
Jamie worked with Corey using her real money. Corey was counting and correctly making change with each virtual purchase.
I think 2013 is going to be the year of discovery ~ I can’t wait to share the results of our latest experiment, xoxo