Abstract This research paper tests the idea that the personal computer and the programs that can be designed for it can be a strong, positive tool to help ADHD clients. The paper includes a discussion on the brain's ability to work around damage caused by injury or other insult, a discussion on different types of brain damage, and a discussion on the various ways for healing, or at least softening, the effects of brain damage. The paper also discusses motor, sensory, and autonomic function; the psychiatric aspects of traumatic brain injury; schizophrenia; and cerebrovascular disorder. It includes an extended discussion on the role MRI and PET examination in discovering what really goes in the formation and development of the brain in developmental disorders, including ADHD.
Current Empirical Understanding of Central Nervous System Neuroplasty
Neurophysiology of Intercerbral Neuronal Regeneration and Repair: Intra-
cellular and Extra-cellular Mechanisms.
Neuro-pharmacological Interventions in Neuroprotection and
Rehabilitation in Traumatic Brain Injury, Congenital Central Nervous
System Conditions including ADHD and Psychostimulant Medications.
Diagnostic Techniques in Neurorehabilitation including: PET, MRI, and
Neuropsychological testing (including: Stroop Color Word Test, and
Continuous Performance Tests) applicable to ADHD
Frontal Lobe Neuroplasticity in the Neurocompensation of Cognitive
Deficits in ADHD: A Focus on Executive Functions including: 1.
Response Inhibition (self-regulation); Problem-solving and Self-
monitoring; Working Memory; Planning and Organization.
The Rehabilitation of Attention using Computer Assisted Cognitive
Rehabilitation Programs including: Selective, Sustained, and Divided
Attention.
The Rehabilitation of Executive Function Using Computer Assisted
Cognitive Rehabilitation Programs including Response Inhibition (self-
regulation); Problem-solving and Self-monitoring; Working Memory;
Planning and Organization.
Review of Computer Assisted Cognitive Rehabilitation as a Treatment
Modality: A. Empirical Support, B. Limitations, and C. Future
Directions.
From the Paper "Can the information gathered about how the human brain works to begin with and then repairs itself after injury be applied to helping people born with some developmental dysfunction such as Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder popularly known as ADHD? Children and adults with this disorder display inabilities to pay attention to the task at hand, appropriately monitor their responses to stimulus and in a range of functions called executive functions such as planning and organization. Building and ordering these functions is what such people need and the hope for the future is that our new technologies can both give us better understanding of causes and provide new, more effective ways to treat ADHD. Besides the new imaging technologies, we also have our societies? love affair with personal computers."
