Practical training in neuropsychology: Learning neurorehabilitation in a useful and practical way with NeuronUP. The UNIR case

The clinical neuropsychologist and director of the Master’s in Clinical Neuropsychology at UNIR, Raquel Balmaseda, offers her perspective on the fundamental role of NeuronUP for the practical training in neuropsychology.

Neuropsychologists and professionals who work in cognitive stimulation and neurorehabilitation have often encountered the problem of a lack of specific materials to carry out our work.

More than once we have had to adapt exercises and tasks that were not designed to work with neurological patients; we have even had to create new exercises, cutting, pasting, and laminating materials to use in neurorehabilitation sessions, taking away the little time we had. I know many professionals know well what I am talking about.

Almost two decades ago computer-based cognitive stimulation programs began to appear, which on the one hand made the neuropsychologist’s job easier, but on the other hand were programs without much longevity, rather expensive and rigid.

NeuronUP is a platform that marks a turning point in this type of neurorrehabilitation tool.

Why do we choose NeuronUP?

Designed by neuropsychologists for neuropsychologists

First, because it is designed by neuropsychologists for neuropsychologists and this is very important because only the professional who provides cognitive stimulation and neuropsychological rehabilitation knows what is needed to work with the patients who are served by neuropsychology.

Division by age and function

Second, because it is a tool that has taken into account the way neuropsychologists work that divides patients on the one hand into adults and children, since they require different approaches and materials, and on the other hand by functions to work on, such as attention, memory, language or executive functions. These two divisions by age and function are of great use for the work of the clinical neuropsychologist.

Continuous evolution

Third, because NeuronUP has not stopped evolving by incorporating new exercises, functions not usually contemplated such as social cognition or activities of daily living, and with increasingly versatile exercises and programs.

What began as a useful tool that provided material quickly and tailored to the treatment we carried out is today, now that we live in the digital age, an indispensable tool for many clinical neuropsychologists and widely used by most specialized centers.

Practical teaching

From the Master’s in Clinical Neuropsychology at UNIR that I not only have the privilege of directing, but of having designed together with collaborators and experts to respond to the training needs of the neuropsychologist, the premise always was that it had to be a predominantly practical master’s degree.

The idea is that our graduates finish the master’s knowing how to perform neuropsychological assessment and intervention.

“What better way to enter the job market than knowing how to use NeuronUP, the leading cognitive stimulation and neurorehabilitation tool in our country, so that students who complete our degree and begin to develop their profession have already had practical experience with the tool they will undoubtedly use in their daily work”.

For this reason, we established a collaboration agreement between NeuronUP and the Master’s in Clinical Neuropsychology at UNIR, where our instructors can use the tool in their classes and the students of this degree have access to NeuronUP during the completion of this postgraduate program to design real neuropsychological intervention sessions and programs, which undoubtedly constitutes an added advantage for our students.

Clinical research

Lastly, although neurorehabilitation and caring for our patients is the core of our work, we cannot forget that often the neuropsychologist can carry out clinical research to enrich our work with scientific advances.

In this regard, NeuronUP and UNIR are united by an interest in research, which is why our students frequently turn to this tool to carry out their research projects at the end of the degree and we also participate jointly in research projects that will contribute to achieving our greatest aspiration, to improve every day to help our patients in their recovery.

If you liked this article about practical training in neuropsychology, you will surely be interested to see how NeuronUP collaborates with universities:

University Program

“This article has been translated. Link to the original article in Spanish:”
Formación práctica en neuropsicología: Aprender neurorrehabilitación de una manera útil y práctica con NeuronUP. El caso de UNIR