Cognitive Abilities and Intervention Strategies (CAIS) - Beyond Behavior

In the 1970s I was relating to a variety of people who were living with psychiatric and/or brain disorders in my work. I often saw frustration, stress, and anger, as well as pleasure and great empathy in the people living with a diagnosis, and in those who were relating to them. I noticed that the way a person acted and felt often depended to a great extent on how someone interacted with them. I remember asking myself “What is it that allows a person to feel better or to communicate or perform tasks more easily some times than other times?” “What role does the brain play in how a person acts, thinks, and feels?” “What can I do to help a person when each person seems to be so unique?” “How can I reduce the distress and frustration, and increase the satisfaction and contentment?” So, I began graduate school (before a degree in neuropsychology existed) and spent the next forty-three years trying to find the answers to these questions. Here is some of what I’ve come up with. I am very excited! You’ll find below practical everyday intervention or support strategies you can try that address a person’s cognitive abilities and other effects of changes in the brain. They can help you reduce and prevent distress and distressing situations, and help you and a person you relate to feel comfortable and enjoy your time together! I hope you too find these strategies helpful and exciting!

- Shelly Weaverdyck, PhD, author of the Cognitive Abilities and Intervention Strategies (CAIS) - Beyond Behavior resources and online course, the CAIS, and the CAIS three volume manual.

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If you find yourself feeling frustrated with a person you are assisting or relating to, or simply want to help a person grow or feel more comfortable and competent, these resources and course may be useful to you. They can help you understand why distress and distressing situations occur and how to prevent them, as well as how to respond to and help this person.

The resources, including the Cognitive Abilities and Intervention Strategies (the CAIS), and the course of five modules in this Beyond Behavior category, search behind the behavior to understand the causes of behavior and how to address them in a way that helps a person. They describe the brain and how changes in the brain affect a person’s cognitive abilities (for example, their ability to think, imagine, and to understand and respond to their surroundings). They provide intervention strategies that address a person’s cognitive abilities so that this person can feel more comfortable and competent, communicate, perform tasks more easily, and in general live a more fulfilling life. The CAIS, course, and resources are relevant to persons living with brain disorders, such as Dementia (Major Neurocognitive Disorder including Alzheimer’s Disease, Dementia with Lewy Bodies, Frontotemporal Dementia, and others), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Autism, and Stroke, as well as with Mental Illness or mental health challenges. They are also in fact relevant to any person with or without a brain disorder, and whether or not this person functions easily or with difficulty.

The Cognitive Abilities and Intervention Strategies (CAIS) provides a set of questions to ask yourself to identify a person’s cognitive abilities, including their cognitive strengths and cognitive needs. Additional questions identify how well the environment, interactions with this person, and the structure and timing of tasks support this person’s cognitive abilities. Practical, concrete, everyday intervention strategies (support strategies) are then provided to address this person’s specific cognitive strengths and needs by modifying the environment, communication, and the task and daily routines. These are individualized to a particular person and situation and are also useful for general education, intervention planning, or program design. They can prevent and reduce distress, stress, frustration, and distressing situations. The CAIS is adapted from the Cognitive Impairment Assessment Protocol (CIAP) and the Cognitive Impairment Intervention Protocol (CIIP) by the same author, Shelly Weaverdyck, PhD.

 

The following resources are provided in three volumes of the CAIS manual:

1. The Cognitive Abilities and Intervention Strategies (CAIS) Questions to Ask in Volume 2, with an introduction and instructions for using the CAIS and for using each of the following four parts of the CAIS: 1. Cognitive Abilities, 2. The Environment, 3. Communication, 4. The Task and Daily Routines.
2. The Cognitive Abilities and Intervention Strategies (CAIS) Intervention Strategies in Volume 2, with an introduction and instructions for using the CAIS and for using each of the following four parts of the CAIS: 1. Cognitive Abilities, 2. The Environment, 3. Communication, 4. The Task and Daily Routines.
3. An Online course with five one-hour modules to learn how the CAIS is structured and how to use it. It also provides an additional orientation to the concepts and background information. Modules 1-5 address the brain, cognitive abilities, the environment, communication, and the task, respectively.
4. A curriculum of five sessions called the CAIS Educational Series in Volume 3. These sessions can be presented formally or used informally when sharing information, problem-solving, supervising, or advising. Sessions 1-5 address the brain, cognitive abilities, the environment, communication, and the task, respectively. These sessions include informal questions to ask. Each session has a script, objectives, PowerPoint slides, handouts, and evaluation forms. An introduction to the series is provided.
5. Additional background information in Volume 1 presented as five chapters and an introduction to the concepts. Each chapter accompanies one of the five modules of the online course and one of the five sessions of the curriculum. The chapter topics are the brain, cognitive abilities, the environment, communication, and the task, respectively. These chapters and introductions provide additional and more in-depth information and background resources for the CAIS, online course, and curriculum.
6. CAIS handouts (43 total) in Volume 1 with information and suggestions that go into more depth regarding specific topics that the CAIS, the online course, the chapters, and the curriculum address (such as visuospatial interventions or frontal lobe interventions, or specific lobes of the brain). They are additional background resources about the brain, cognitive abilities, and intervention and support strategies. They present information and intervention suggestions that address the needs of readers at various levels of understanding and experience, so specific handouts can be distributed to individuals or groups based on specific needs. Most of the handouts are 2-5 pages long; some are longer. An introduction to describe how to use the handouts is provided, as is a list of all 43 handouts.

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