Chapter 13:Traumatic Brain Injury

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Chapter 13Traumatic Brain Injury
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Traumatic Brain InjuryDefinition

• IDEA
• caused by an external physical force
  (controversial that disease is excluded)
• results in total or partial functional disability
  or psychosocial impairment
• adversely affects educational performance
• open and closed head injuries included
• congenital or degenerative head injuries
• Types
• Open- injury to specific area or focal point
• Closed- brain whips back and forth inside the head

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Types of Brain Injury
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Closed Head Injury

• Results from the brains being whipped back and
  forth rapidly, gelatin-like, causing it to rub
  against and bounce off the rough, jagged interior
  of the skull
• Places enormous stress on brain stem, the bodys
  relay station

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Open Head Injury

• Results from an insult to a specific area or
  focal point of the brain, such as a gunshot wound
  or blow to the head
• Generally affects only injured part of brain

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Symptoms of Mild Head Injury

• Becomes restless or fussy
• Doesnt pay attention
• Forgets things
• Gets mixed up about time and places
• Takes longer to get things done
• Doesnt act the same
• Acts without thinking
• Becomes easily upset
• Loses his or her temper a lot

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• Tires easily or needs extra sleep
• Doesnt see or hear as well
• Drops things or trips a lot
• Develops problems with words or sentences
• Has a harder time learning

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Traumatic Brain Injury Characteristics

• Physical changes
• 20 have seizures
• poor coordination, weakness
• headaches
• spasticity or paralysis
• vision, hearing, perceptual losses
• Cognitive changes
• attention
• memory
• reasoning skills
• judgment

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• Linguistic changes
• receptive language
• written language aphasia
• finding the right words (dysnomia)
• Social/ behavioral changes
• lack of motivation
• disinhibition
• poor self-monitoring skills
• inability to interpret social cues

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Areas of the Brain and Related General Functions
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Causes of Brain Injury
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Identifying Causes and Prevalence of Traumatic
Brain Injury

• Accidents are one major cause- typically motor
  vehicle, bicycle, or pedestrian-vehicle
  incidents.
• Falls- second leading cause, including falls from
  bed, chairs, tables and shopping carts.
• Violence related incidents- more than 80 of
  deaths from head trauma in children under 2 are
  nonaccidental
• Silent epidemic- it is the leading cause of death
  and disability among children and young adults

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Assessment Process

• Recovery is inconsistent, making assessment
  challenging. The needs of students with TBI are
  diverse so evaluation needs to be comprehensive
  and ongoing.
• Utilizes a number of specialty personnel
• Assessment tools
• Electroencephalogram (EEG)
• PET scan
• CT-Scanner
• Services- ensure academic and social success

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Skill Areas examined

• Complex attention
• Memory skills
• Verbal communication skills
• Written communication skills
• Verbal information processing skills
• Written information processing skills
• Executive functioning
• Reasoning skills
• Mathematical skills

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Progressing through the General Curriculum

• Curricular Goals
• Address cognitively based deficits
• Improve post-trauma brain injury function
• Implement Instruction
• Direct instruction- a systematic approach to
  design and delivery of procedures
• Establish a behavioral management program-
  antecedent behavioral management
• Traditional memory aids may not work so memory
  enhancers, like mnemonics, are used.

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Encouraging Participation

• Practice Inclusion
• Professional specialists focus on different
  concerns
• Foster Collaboration
• Family- family members collaborating with
  professionals is key to the well-being of
  students
• Peers- collaboration with peers provides
  reinforcement while student is still in the
  hospital

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Programs and Practices

• Early Childhood Years- The Childrens Place- and
  intense team approach prepares children for
  transition
• Elementary Years- utilizes essential components
  of direct instruction to address learning needs
• Middle and Secondary Years- utilizes behavior
  management plans to reduce exposure to
  frustrating experiences
• Transitional and Postsecondary years- examines
  available options and determines suitable
  opportunities for transition