Neurosycology evaluation

A couple years back, I took a Neuropsychology evaluation. It was given by a psychologist and was an assessment of how my brain functions. There is an interview and several tests involved. The information I received was priceless

You would take this test if you had any sort of change to your brain. Or you would like to figure out which areas of your brain are working most effectively

I was given some puzzles to figure out. Also, I had to recite the correct answer in a list of questions and much more. They tests took several hours for three days.

This was a very valuable evaluation because it gave me certain skills I needed to work on. It also gave me areas to improve upon. The test looked at certain skills like memory, problem solving and reasoning. Many of the questions were hard to figure out what they were trying to solve.

It’s your turn!

1)      Go to P2P. org

2)      Click on the Special Needs Database

3)      Then you enter in the providers name, but if you don’t know the provider there are general services you can choose from.

4)      There are then some optional search criteria

5)       Then click search

Ghost out!

       A couple months ago, I was told about a “ghost out.” I heard about the program from a lady named Emma Harrington. She is the Injury Prevention Specialist at Shepherd Center. In the past few years, I  have done several talks with her at different high schools, mainly about my recovery at Shepherd Center.

      She told me about the “ghost out” because they needed a speaker. It is so awesome because they reenact car wrecks. It’s given to high school students around Prom and Homecoming time. They make the actors, who are students, all bloody using make-up. They have a pre-crashed car, firefighters everywhere, ambulances and helicopters flying over the school!

                Then I come and speak to the students, over microphone. I am the living proof that accidents do happen and they can be extremely deadly or dangerous. I tell them a little bit about my accident, how not to drive while distracted and if at all possible earn their degree!

                There were about three schools I talked to and they were all in Cherokee County. They were schools like Cherokee County High School, River Ridge and Etowah. One of those schools I talked to 1300 students. The students came up to me at the end and hugged me. Some were in tears because they knew of someone who was involved in a car wreck. One precious young man came up to me and said that he was going to drop out of high school until he heard my story! It was an unbelievable experience that I will never forget!

If you would like to find out more about “ghost outs” in your community please contact your local fire department. You can also look on this .

https://www.facebook.com/Cherokee-County-Ghost-Out-105939806115527/

You can also see pictures of the ghost out( I’m the first one)

https://photographybydwight.shootproof.com/gallery/etowahhightschool2016/home

Project Walk vs. Beyond Therapy

                      I have attended both Project Walk and Beyond Therapy. Both were created for those who have experienced injuries and trying to offset the trauma.The two are extremely different. It’s like going to two separate restaurants and expecting to experience the same taste.

    Both are there to improve the quality of life through exercise. However, Project Walk http://www.projectwalkatlanta.org/  is for Spinal Cord Injury survivors and Beyond Therapyhttp://www.shepherd.org is for Brain Injury survivors. They are also both equipped with the latest machines like the Lokomat( treadmill with a harness), Smith machine( bar to balance on) leg press and intense workouts. First I’m going to talk about Project Walk. Now Project Walks equipment was cutting edge and they offered great workouts! They were able to help treat, motivate and encourage me. However, being a brain injury survivor they did not have much experience in dealing with people like me. I was kind-of a brand new species that they were trying to experiment on.

       Beyond Therapy is a rigorous program that both tries to lesson secondary complications and to also get the most from links to the muscles! Beyond Therapy has had a ton of experience with people who had similar complications to me. I was very successful with Beyond Therapy. I progressed from a wheelchair, to a walker then to a cane. They try and use every ligament that you are able to access. Not one organization can do what these two do.  I tried others, but they were for stroke patients and/or sports related injuries and very few had experience with TBI patients.

If you are looking for therapists a good place to start is the Parent to Parent Special Needs Database. We have over 5,000 providers and you can search online for the one nearest you!

Go to:

http://p2pga.force.com/Provider