What an incredible morning we had at our recent event, “Cognitive-Communication Disorders: Assessment & Treatment in the Community,” held in June 2025! We were thrilled by the response we received and fantastic engagement from all our participants, hosting a mix of Speech Pathologists from both the public and private sector. And we couldn’t be prouder of our host, Senior Speech Pathologist Matthew Fong, for leading such an insightful presentation.

At Independent Rehabilitation Services, we are dedicated to providing evidence-based, person-centred support for adults with neurological conditions. Our team of Speech Pathologists always strive to work holistically to ensure the best outcomes for our clients, and it was a privilege to share some of our expertise with other interested Speech Pathologists working within the community. 

Areas Covered in the Presentation:

The session covered a comprehensive range of topics, including:

  • Understanding the difference between social and cognitive communication disorders
  • Assessment tools and interventions
  • Goal setting and outcome measures
  • Current guidelines for cognitive rehabilitation after traumatic brain injury

Our Key Takeaways from the Presentation:

We provided valuable insights into the assessment and treatment of cognitive-communication disorders, such as:

  • Discourse profiles and assessment: A significant portion of the event focused on understanding and recognising different discourse profiles, such as confused, impoverished, and verbose/inefficient communication. And we explored various assessment tools available for this population.
  • Intervention strategies and principles: The presentation highlighted a range of intervention strategies and we discussed the importance of promoting and measuring improvements of functioning, using context-sensitive treatment approaches.
  • Explicit teaching of conversation structure: The event also covered how to explicitly teach the structure of conversation, including acknowledgements, questions, and comments.

The success of this event reinforces our commitment to fostering understanding and providing high-quality and personalised therapy targeting improving functional communication outcomes for our clients in the community. We are excited to continue hosting similar events in the future, bringing together professionals and individuals to share knowledge and advance practice in neurological rehabilitation.

We are planning to run this PD as a webinar. If you are interested in attending, we’d love to hear from you! Please email help@independent-rehab.com.au and we will add your details to our wait list.