A history of cognitive rehabilitation of head-injured patients, 1915 to 1980

Abstract

Cognitive rehabilitation programs for head injury patients were first organized during World War I as a result of improved survival from severe head injury. In Germany, specialized centers included vocational training and sophisticated assessment methods. In the United States, progress was limited by interdisciplinary politics. During World War II, head Injury neurosurglcal centers were established in Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States, and some centers included rehabilitation units with speech therapy. Beginning in the late 1970s, there has been a rapid development of both acute and postacute cognitive rehabilitation programs for closed head injury patients in the United States.