The use of a mnemonic cueing system (NeuroPage®)
and a paper and pencil checklist in the rehabilitation
of executive problems in a 50-year-old woman are described.
Following a CVA 7 years earlier, the patient, despite intact
general intellectual and memory functioning, had specific
executive impairments of attention, planning, realizing
intended actions, and also exhibited behavioral routines
similar in form to obsessive–compulsive rituals.
In a series of ABAB single-case experimental designs, the
efficacy of 2 external cueing systems in prompting appropriately
timed action is demonstrated. It is argued that the combination
of external control and increased sustained attention to
action were critical to the success of NeuroPage with this
patient. Furthermore it is hypothesized that the checklist
was effective in facilitating the patient's ability
to foresee and recognize the consequences of her actions,
which in turn had an impact on the probability of her changing
those same actions. (JINS, 1998, 4, 399–408.)