Introduction
Here are some questions to ask yourself to better understand how well the physical environment uses the strengths and meets the needs of a person and their cognitive abilities. These questions are based on brain functioning and specific cognitive skills. However, you do not need to know anything about the brain or cognition to ask them. These are a few of many possible questions.
These questions are organized under nine general intervention concepts that address needs a person might frequently experience in most environments.
The questions should be answered with a particular person in mind, since each person has different needs, strengths, and desires, and therefore, different requirements of their environment. They should also be answered frequently enough to accommodate changes in this person’s needs, strengths, and desires or changes in their environment.
Your answers to these questions can suggest effective intervention and support strategies that modify the environment to help this person more easily think, understand and respond to their environment and other people, feel comfortable, and successfully perform a task. These strategies can meet this person’s cognitive needs, as well as rely on and build on this person’s cognitive strengths.
These questions apply to any room in any setting and to any task (for example, daily housekeeping chores, hygiene, leisure activities, or a visit with a friend).
Note that in addition to features in the environment that address cognitive abilities, the environment also needs to be carefully evaluated for safety. The questions here focus primarily on cognitive abilities and do not address all aspects of safety.
The instructions here are likely sufficient for you to understand how to use this “CAIS Environment Questions to Ask-Four Point Response Format” and the “CAIS Environment Questions to Ask: Yes/No Response Format”. However, if you would like to see rationale for these questions and to quantify your responses more specifically and with more detail, see the “CAIS Environment Questions to Ask- Additional Instructions for Response”. It has more specific instructions and an elaboration of each of these questions with details, examples, and rationale.
The “CAIS Environment Questions to Ask: Four Point Response Format” and the “CAIS Environment Questions to Ask: Yes/No Response Format” are two options to use for answering these questions. They each have the same questions. Choose the response format you prefer or that best fits the situation.
Suggestions of intervention strategies (that is, support strategies) tailored to your responses to these questions can be found in the Cognitive Abilities and Intervention Strategies (CAIS): Environmental Intervention Strategies.
Please note: The pdf version of the Four Point Response Format offers more detail in some of the Environment questions. These questions are identified in the Environment instructions.
The complete CAIS Questions to Ask and the CAIS Intervention Strategies including all four parts (with the titles: 1. Cognitive Abilities; 2. Environment; 3. Communication; and 4. Task and Daily Routines), are available in this interactive format and as downloadable and printable pdf documents. These along with more detailed instructions, resources, and other information about the CAIS and related topics are on the Improving MI Practices website at https://improvingmipractices.org
