SINR Seminar - September - Lyn Turkstra

Rethinking Neurorehabilitation for Patients with Cognitive Impairments

Date: Wednesday, September 9th, 2026
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 pm EST

About the Presentation:
Neurorehabilitation of patients with acquired brain injury (ABI) is mostly about teaching or re-teaching skills, habits, and facts, and thus relies heavily on patients’ learning and memory capacity. Impairments in learning and memory, however, are ubiquitous among in- and outpatients with ABI. In this webinar, we will discuss approaches to selecting instructional methods that fit each patient’s learning and memory capacity, from early after injury when the patient has post-traumatic amnesia to in- and outpatient rehabilitation.

Learning Objectives:

1. Create a plan to implement a protocol for patients in post-traumatic amnesia.
2. Consider methods for screening cognitive function early in rehabilitation.
3. Describe the costs and benefits of triaging in- and outpatients to different instructional methods based on their declarative learning ability.

About the Presenter:

Lyn Turkstra, PhD, CCC-SLP
Dr. Lyn Turkstra is an internationally recognized researcher and educator in the field of cognitive-communication disorders, with a particular focus on adolescents and adults with acquired brain injury. She is a Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University, faculty in the Centre for Advanced Research in Experimental and Applied Linguistics (ARiEAL), and a Subject-Matter Expert for the US Department of Defense and Veterans Health Administration. Dr. Turkstra has published extensively on assessment and intervention strategies for individuals with traumatic brain injury, long COVID, and related conditions. A co-author of international clinical practice guidelines for cognitive rehabilitation, her work bridges experimental science and clinical application across both civilian and military populations.