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Dear MemoryZine,

I've had a lot of fun with the CDs. I found the content to be well organized and full of good new and review information. Particularly interesting to me is the one for Names and Faces. I meet about five to six people every day that I then see weekly or monthly for some duration. It does get more and more difficult to recall their names when I need to, so I have been trying your techniques. They work! All of the exercises are challenging and enjoyable. I hope to return to them frequently for more practice.

The quality of the program is impressive. Even though I am not too computer-savy, I had no problem following the exercises.

I'm grateful for the program. My mother died of Alzheimer's disease, so I know first-hand the devastation of the extremes of memory loss. I encourage you in your work and research on memory because the world needs it.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Beth S.
Fort Wayne, IN

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Dear MemoryZine,

My job as Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapist involves the in depth assessment and treatment of cognitive problems following neurological injury. Many patients demonstrate problems with attention, information processing skills, memory and executive functions. The Memory Works® CD -ROMs can be used to help with the treatment of all of these difficulties. I am impressed with the clarity, and style of these CD-ROMs, and in addition they provide useful educational information and practice at using strategies. Of course, nothing substitutes for one on one therapy and real life application, but in reality there are not enough therapists and not enough time. The Memory Works CDs offer an excellent support to the therapy, allowing the patient to learn information at their own pace, and to apply the strategies in simulated situations. My favourite CD is Best Intentions®, since it operates in a simulated real life environment and focuses on prospective memory - there are a lack of treatment materials for this most handicapping of problems. I will also be recommending them to individuals to use at home in their own time.

Kit B Malia, BEd, MPhil, CPCRT
Brain Tree Training
Surrey, England

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Open letter from a prominent memory psychologist regarding The Memory Works® Series.

As someone involved as an academic for the last 30 years in the field of memory improvement, I can unreservedly recommend the CD courses produced for The Practical Memory Institute By Doug Herrmann and Dana Plude. Both men are unusual in that being successful academic psychologists, they have taken the trouble to ensure that the best of our recent findings on memory improvement has been combined with the best of longer established findings to provide the learner with a powerful array of memory techniques for tackling many of the everyday memory problems that people in many walks of life face.

It is perhaps not surprising that they have chosen to do this since they have made a considerable contribution themselves to advancing our knowledge of memory improvement, in the area of memory failures, memory problems in everyday life and in the need for a multimodal approach to memory improvement and an array of strategies for dealing with different memory problems, rather than the usual over optimistic advice which relies too simplistically on a narrow array of set techniques.

Given the expertise of the authors, it is not surprising that all the Memory Works courses, on Face/name remembering, on remembering facts and figures, on the remembering of future actions and on the nature of memory should be highly informative and based on methods of presentation which themselves increase the interest, enjoyment and memorability of what is being presented.

After being informed and entertained on these courses, any learner will be in a position to remember a whole range of everyday memory tasks to a far greater extent than otherwise. The courses represent a major contribution to cognitive technology, a goal which Doug Herrmann has long held to be of major importance as the founding editor of the journal Cognitive Technology. I believe that these interactive courses will be a major success in the field.

Michael M. Gruneberg, Ph.D.
(Professor Gruneberg is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Wales, Swansea. He has published numerous scientific books and papers on the practical aspects of memory. He has also published the highly successful Linkword language courses, which use memory aides to speed up foreign language learning. Dr. Gruneberg is past Chair of the Society for Applied research in Memory and Cognition.)

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Dear MemoryZine,

My friend told me that you were interested in feedback regarding the Best Intentions Program that I purchased from PMI. - Here it is:

I am an occupational therapist with over 20 years experience with adults who have cognitive impairments as a result of acquired brain injury or neurological disorders. I really like the Best Intentions CD. It is the only program available that addresses memory within functionally relevant and simulated tasks. The tasks are motivating to clients as they are similar to the demands and tasks in daily life. As an Occupational Therapist, I especially appreciate this. In addition, it emphasizes a strategy approach which I believe is essential in the treatment of persons with cognitive difficulties. I like the 3D simulated "Day in the Life" the best. It is well designed, and creative. The built in distractions and interruptions simulate real life experiences that patients can easily relate to. I am impressed with the high quality of the program. My only criticism is that there is only one such scenario and I wish that there were more. I also really like the memory monitor but I wish there was a way to save client responses or print it out to compare at another point in time. Same is true of the other "How to remember" practice exercises - I wish there was a way to save or record responses.

I have been involved in running memory group programs using an approach that involves repeated practice of the same strategy in different practical contexts for older persons with mild cognitive impairments (MCI) and more recently with women who have subtle memory deficits and Lupus (SLE) , as part of an interdisciplinary research project at a Medical Center in New York City. I have included your website on my list of client resources within the group programs that I am involved with. I also do workshops and lectures on Cognitive Rehabilitation and have included your website on my list of treatment resources. On occasion, I have showed a demo of the Best Intentions CD within my presentations and it is consistently received with enthusiasm. I highly recommend the Best Intentions CD without hesitation because it is a high quality program and therapists need more treatment materials that have functionally relevant tasks and situations to address cognitive impairments. I am confident that practitioners will find it very useful in clinical practice.

Joan Toglia, Ph.D., OTR/L

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Dear PMI,

I work in an outpatient clinic with primarily acquired brain injury (CVA, brain cancer, tumor resection, etc... and TBI populations) and have been working with a particular client on the Best Intentions program. After using the program with me for only two weeks, including "A day in the Life" and the “take away program”, I observed him to spontaneously write down what he has to recall. His accuracy has improved from 0% to 50% (inconsistently).

As the OT, I need to address metacognition especially with TBI… this is why I like the ‘Memory Monitor’. Outcome measure is becoming more and more important for evidence based practice and proving the OT is a valuable therapy.

I see Best Intentions as a tool that can be used as home programming for a higher level functioning cognitive impairment. From an outpatient perspective, I see this program being very marketable to both OT and SLP.

I was very excited to see this program. It is by far the best I have seen and used--even with limitations (…great graphics by the way!)

Thank you,

Kathy W. Hill, MA, OTR/L,CBIS
OT Supervisor
Certified Brain Injury Specialist
Stillwater , MN

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Dear Practical Memory Institute,

It is with great pleasure that I write this letter. I have been utilizing the Memory Works CD series for my client base which consists specifically of adults with catastrophic injuries including acquired brain injury and spinal cord injuries.

The CDs have opened up many lives with the "real life" exercises and interface as well as enhanced the opportunity to provide these individuals with a "light at the end of the tunnel". When you have suffered a traumatic brain injury, the diversity of cognitive impairment leaves an individual feeling hopeless until a clinician provides them with exposure to such tools as the Memory Works CDs.

It is often that I am asked by other clinicians (in occupational therapy and speech-language therapy) how these tools are implemented. I answer them that It is my pleasure to develop individual treatment plans using the Memory Works CD since no injury profile is the same.

I would have no reservation recommending the Memory Works CDs or to share how they have greatly assisted my clients.

Yours truly,

Deborah Crowe, RRP
Rehabilitation Consultant
Davwill Consulting Inc.
London, Ontario CANADA

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Dear PMI,

I am a clinical neuropsychologist in a solo private practice in Virginia Beach, Virginia since 1992. My background includes a BA in Psychology, MEd and EdS in School Psychology, a PhD in Clinical Psychology, a post-doctoral Fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology, board certified in neuropsychology ABPN, and a Fellow in the National Academy of Neuropsychology. My practice consists of evaluating and treating known or suspected neurologic disorders, and the most frequent referral is memory loss regardless of age. My treatment approach has been to incorporate an educational approach to the disorder in question and outlining a specific individualized practical plan for compensation and remediation. I have familiarity with many cognitive rehabilitation programs and strategies, and of all the commercially available programs I have found the MemoryZine training CDs to be practical, easy to use, and beneficial to my clients. Most of my recommendations include a consideration to visit www.memoryzine.com as well as to purchase the CDs. I have purchased them, and use them to demonstrate to clients how they can do this at home. If requested we can conduct the training within our office. Those clients who have purchased the CDs typically buy one or two specific titles to work on, and they have expressed satisfaction in its ease of use, practicality, and generalizability to daily living demands. I have been very pleased with the outcome. Thank you for developing a great product and an interesting website for my clients to visit and learn about memory.

Best Regards,

Scott
Scott W. Sautter, Ph.D., ABPN
Hampton Roads Neuropsychology, Inc
Virginia Beach, VA