Counselling with special groups: Cognitive disabilities

 Meaning-cum-Definition 

            It refers to any condition that negatively affects a person's ability to process information, learn new things, and communicate effectively. Cognitive disabilities can be caused by a variety of factors, including genetic disorders, brain injuries, and illnesses. It is a mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities,” which include, but are not limited to “learning … concentrating, thinking, and communicating.

            It includes intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, and memory disorders. Individuals with cognitive disabilities may experience difficulty with learning, problem-solving, memory, attention, language, and communication skills.

Counselling in Practice

            Handling cognitively disabled individuals requires patience, empathy, and an understanding of their unique needs and limitations. Counseling individuals with cognitive disabilities can be challenging, but it's also a crucial part of helping them to lead fulfilling lives.

Some counseling strategies that can be effective in working with individuals with cognitive disabilities:

1.         Use of client-centered approach - Explore the individual and their unique needs, goals, and challenges. This information is used for customizing the counseling approach to the client’s specific needs.

2.         Use concrete examples - Individuals with cognitive disabilities find it difficult to deal with abstract concepts, so it's important to use concrete examples and real-life situations to illustrate key points.

3.         Aid of visual aids - Pictures, diagrams, and videos can be helpful in conveying information to individuals with cognitive disabilities.

4.         Break down information - Supplying information into small, manageable pieces and using repetition to reinforce important concepts.

5.         Positive reinforcement – Provide the individual with positive reinforcement when they make progress or accomplish goals in order to enhance the client’s self-esteem and motivation.

6.         Being empathetic – Perceiving the situation from the client’s perspective in order to understand his/her feelings and experiences.

7.         Focus on strengths - Help the individual to identify their strengths and build on them to achieve their goals.

8.         Use of simple and easy language – The counsellor should speak in clear, simple sentences and avoid using complex and technical words. The language can uplift or degrade someone “depending on how it is used”. Outdated or inaccurate words can encourage and promote, even if unintentional, poor and negative perceptions and feelings about persons with disabilities; some of which include the words “invalid, suffering, afflicted, victim, handicapped, crippled, and wheelchair-bound etc.

9.         Follow up - Follow up with the individual regularly to provide ongoing support and to monitor their progress

Major Interventions

1.         Oral Language Interventions – Oral language is used to help process oral information, vocabulary, comprehension, and recall. Recommendations to improve oral language include.

2.         Visual Processing Interventions - Visual processing is involved in visualization, visual memory, and imagery.

3.         Fluid Reasoning Interventions - Fluid reasoning is used to deliberately and flexibly control one’s mental processes to solve new or unfamiliar problems.

4.         Processing Speed Interventions – Processing speed helps people to quickly and fluently perform relatively easy or over-learned tasks, especially when concentration is involved.

5.         Memory Interventions – Information enters mental awareness through the senses (short-term memory) or is retrieved (long-term memory) – thus, if no attention is directed toward it, the information dissipates immediately.

6.         Practicing self-reflection – Self-reflection is akin to looking at the mirror; in a mirror physical body is visible, while in self-reflection individual perceives or experiences Self. It is a cognitive mirror. It helps in the pragmatic assessment of self, leading to an understanding of self in the context of the situation.