Helping learners level up with cognitive supports.

TOPIC: This column describes strategies for helping educators and trainers address common problems with executive functioning and memory for their audiences, to better facilitate learning. PURPOSE: The purpose of the article is to suggest strategies for maximizing learning and goal achievement for students in academic settings, as well as for building employee knowledge and skills in the psychiatric rehabilitation workforce through worksite-based training. SOURCES USED: The content in this column is drawn from the professional experience of the authors as well as available literature. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Educators and trainers encounter many challenges when assisting people to achieve desired learning objectives. Attending to the cognitive needs of all learners, by supporting their planning, attention, memory, and reasoning skills, can minimize some of these challenges. Educators and trainers may implement the strategies described to better engage with their audiences, whether in an academic or clinical practice environment. Implementation of specific strategies to offset limitations will positively affect all learners, who benefit both from maximized knowledge and skill acquisition as well as improved job performance. Improved learning will likely translate to better practitioner skill over time, which should lead to improved outcomes for service users in the field of psychiatric rehabilitation. (PsycINFO Database Record