CogWatch · Cognitive Rehabilitation of Apraxia and Action Disorganisation Syndrome

Neurological patients due to stroke may suffer from disrupted action due to cognitive deficits which prevent them from maintaining independent lives. CogWatch will focus on neurological patients with symptoms of Apraxia and Action Disorganisation Syndrome (AADS) who, while maintaining their motor capabilities, commit cognitive errors during every-day goal-oriented tasks which premorbidly they used to perform automatically. Most common rehabilitation ICT systems are focused on treating physiological symptoms of stroke, such as hemiparesis and are not appropriate for rehabilitation of cognitive impairments. Moreover, they are based on robot and/or virtual environment platforms which are expensive and impractical for home installations. In addition, they are designed as rehabilitation 'stations' which patients have to access and adapt to the way the systems operate. As a consequence, this affects the continuity of the therapy and weakens its impact. A new Personal Healthcare System (PHS) for cognitive rehabitation of action after stroke is proposed which will be be affordable, customisable and capable of delivering continuous cognitive rehabilitation at home, when it is needed. The proposed CogWatch project plans to exploit intelligent tools and objects, portable and wearable devices as well as ambient systems to provide personalised cognitive rehabilitation at home for stroke patients with AADS symptoms.