An in-depth multi-media CD presentation reviewing the principles of applied behavior analysis and how it can be effectively used in brain injury rehabilitation.
Centre for Neuro Skills was created out of necessity. Twenty years ago, a devastating brain injury left 21-year-old Steve Ashley completely disabled. Conventional medicine and available long-term care gave Steve no hope for recovery or regaining an independent life.
As the brother of Mark Ashley, CNS founder and president, Steve provided a personal opportunity for Mark to demonstrate what he had come to believe through successful work with other individuals with brain injuries that rehabilitation was possible. People locked inside the physical prison of brain injury could be given the keys to freedom through an intense program of therapy.
Steve Ashley was the first CNS client. His journey to recovery became the model for CNS ongoing philosophy and practice. Day after day of intensive therapy revealed Steve's unique physical and emotional needs. Steve needed to be functionally independent. He wanted to master some very basic living skills like eating, turning himself in bed, using his voice, moving his body. He needed help in
controlling his behavior, in overcoming depression, and in finding a source of positive motivation. Most of all, Steve needed to be treated as an individual and as a whole person and treated with dignity and respect.
After months of successes and setbacks, celebration and frustration, Steve Ashley found a new life. He was able to speak, to drive his electric wheel chair, to use the bathroom, to feed himself, and to live alone in his own apartment. With CNS unique approach to therapy, he returned to society and to himself.
At Centre for Neuro Skills, each and every client is a Steve Ashley. Our bias for action is to do whatever it takes to return the person with a brain injury to the highest level of independence possible.
Individuals recovering from brain injuries are treated with respect and dignity. Ethical working relationships between CNS staff members, clients, and their families are the basis of all treatment and therapy. Not every client will regain the same level of function, but CNS is the place where individuals are rehabilitated to their fullest potential and given back a measure of control over their world.
At CNS, we believe that most survivors of brain injury, given the right therapy at the right time by experienced, involved professionals, can do more. They can regain a normal rhythm of living. That is what Steve Ashley taught us.
