Do you ever find yourself struggling to stay focused, juggle thoughts, or map out your day? And what about those moments when trying to find the right word mid-conversation, managing finances feels overwhelming, and walking and talking or locating things becomes a quest?
Parkinson’s disease can affect both your cognitive abilities and motor skills. But here’s where the journey changes: Dual-task training has emerged as a way to improve all these challenges.
Join us in DT training classes to challenge your cognitive abilities, harmonize your voice and movement, and chart a course to better quality of life with PD.
Portuguese physiotherapist Josefa Domingos and American speech language pathologist, John M. Dean, clinicians who specialize in Parkinson’s, develop these programs specifically for our Parkinson community, and in partnership with IPMDC.
All programs are live and online. Program times are Eastern Standard Time (EST).
Dual Task for Parkinson’s
Exercise to improve movement, voice & cognition
Every Monday and Wednesday from 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Have you ever felt your steps get smaller or feet start to shuffle when talking with someone while walking? Or do you sometimes have to stop walking to be able to talk? Being able to perform two tasks at once is an important problem in Parkinson’s disease. Dual task training can help reduce these deficits.
These classes are taught by Portuguese physiotherapist Josefa Domingos and American speech language pathologist, John M. Dean. With a combined 32 years of experience working exclusively with individuals with Parkinson’s, they been collaborating since 2011 on dual task exercise that combines movement, voice, and cognition, the three elements of the approach in their bi-weekly PD3 exercise series.
Dual Task comes to northern Virginia – 2023!
On August 7 and 8, 2023, Josefa and John met with our local Parkinson community at Sportrock Alexandria for 2 days of dual tasking- in person!
Click here to view a video of the our time together. Although we only meet on Zoom throughout the rest of the year, we’ve created a special community, and formed friendships. We’re already planning for their next visit in 2024!
Here’s an example of what a session can look like.
Josefa and John have developed this virtual live series specifically for our Parkinson community and will include time for participants to socialize and connect.
Mondays at 3:00 pm (EST)
Level 1: Prioritizing voice & cognition with a physical twist.
Dual task training prioritizing cognition and voice while performing low to moderate intensity physical movement. Special focus is on mastering each part individually, then progressing to combining them into one effortless activity.
Expect repetition, learning to set priority, feedback from the 2nd instructor assessing performance and giving real-time feedback to the group or individually via private chat.
Wednesdays at 3:00 pm (EST)
Level 2: Prioritizing physical with a cognitive & voice twist.
Dual task training prioritizing moderate to vigorous intensity physical movement with a cognitive/voice twist. Special focus is on performing the entire activity optimally, then progressing intensity by increasing speed, increasing variations and duration.
Expect fast progressions in physical challenges, varying of the priority, and alternating attention between the tasks.
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