Allen Cognitive Network

Brief History of the Cognitive Disabilities Model and Assessments

The cognitive disabilities model had its beginnings at the Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute in the late 1960’s when Claudia K. Allen, MA, OTR, FAOTA and her colleagues first observed patterns of performance difficulties in adult patients with mental disorders. In seeking to better understand and thereby serve the needs of these individuals, Allen and other therapists began a systematic and careful collection of observations of these difficulties. The focus of inquiry at that time was the “sensorimotor actions originating in the physical or chemical structures of the brain and producing observable and assessable limitations in routine task behavior” (Allen, 1985). The construct of “functional cognition” has since become a useful term for describing the focus of concern of the cognitive disabilities model. Functional cognition encompasses the complex and dynamic interactions between an individual’s cognitive abilities and the activity context that produces observable performance.