About Tezztrax
Tezztrax was developed primarily to help my father improve both his memory and cognitive function in a challenging but fun way.
I’m Tezz and in early 2023 my father suffered a stroke.
Luckily, my mother recognised the symptoms of a stroke and he received swift and efficient medical attention from the wonderful staff at the Royal United Hospital in Bath, UK.
After just a few months' rehabilitation he was eager to begin driving again. However, UK driving rules stated that he couldn’t just jump behind the wheel. He had to undertake an official driving assessment.
The Montreal Cognitive Assessment
The assessment was split into two parts of which both had to be passed. One part was a practical revue of his on-road driving ability, in very similar circumstances to a driving test.
The examiner could see that the stroke had had little effect on this and his 60+ years of driving experience shone through.
Next came the cognitive test.
He was given the Montreal Cognitive Assessment which tests the brain’s functioning for things like decision making, processing of information and memory recall, all of which are vital for safe driving.
The test results showed a few areas of cognitive function which had been impaired by the effect of the stroke and it was suggested that a few more months' rehabilitation would be beneficial before retaking the test.
A better chance of passing
One part of the test was to think of as many words as possible beginning with a given letter. My father had difficulty with this task which showed the stroke had affected the part of the brain which processes this information.
Another part of the test which proved difficult was being given a sequence of words and having to recall them later in the test.
As a keen amateur coder, I set about developing a test which my father could use to help in these two specific areas. We were told that practice could, in some cases, help the brain create new ways of processing certain information, thus giving him a better chance of passing his driving assessment the second time around.
Hits from the 1960s
An idea formed which was based around our shared love of music.
He was always able to name the singer of certain songs, especially rock and roll hits from the 1960s. So, I developed a test where I would only give him the initial letters of a well known track. This would encourage him to think of words beginning with those letters and thereby, come up with the song title.
To develop his memory recall, I then challenged him to think of the artist who sang it. Although difficult, using a subject he was interested in made the test more fun.
Family and friends were enjoying playing along with him so much, it made me decide to launch this website ‘tezztrax’, which I hope will, in a small way, help to improve the brain health and well-being of music lovers everywhere.
Most of all, I hope it provides a bit of challenging fun at the same time.
Thanks for reading,
Tezz
UPDATE: I'm pleased to report that my father passed both the practical and cognitive tests on his next attempt!