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Brain Injury
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs when a sudden trauma causes brain damage. TBI, one of the two subsets of acquired brain injury (ABI), can result from a closed head injury or a penetrating head injury. Non-traumatic brain injuries, like those suffered from a stroke, meningitis, or anoxia, make up the other subset of ABI.
Symptoms of a TBI vary from person to person, and can be mild, moderate, or severe in nature. Some symptoms of a mild TBI include headaches; trouble with memory, concentration, attention, or thinking; a change in sleep patterns; or double vision. With moderate or severe TBI, the individual may exhibit some or all of the symptoms of mild TBI as well as psychological difficulties including depression, anger, or impaired social judgment; loss of coordination, seizures, and slurred speech.
Brain injury can result from two types of trauma: 1) External events, such as a closed head trauma; or 2) internal events, such as a cerebral vascular accident or tumors. The consequences of brain injuries are complex and can effect many different aspects of a person’s life. Although there is great variation with the effects of a brain injury, to some degree many people experience similar impairments in the following functions:
- Memory: These types of deficits are the most common characteristics of a student with a brain injury. Primarily, the student may not be able to store information for an immediate recall. The person may need to use different techniques to organize because of the difficulty he or she now has in short term memory recall.
- Cognitive/Perceptual Communication: Distractions by external stimuli are very common. This may disrupt students because they may not be able to concentrate long enough for learning to take place.
- Speed of Thinking: Students may need to take longer to process information which in turn influences reaction time, speed of response, and quickness of data integration.
- Communication: Language functions (writing, reading, speaking and listening) may be impaired. The student may have trouble comprehending and need extended time to understand written or spoken material during the pressure of an exam.
- Conceptualization: Reduction in the ability to categorize, sequence, prioritize and generalize information. Student may be very concrete and stimulus-bound.
- Executive Functions: Ability to set goals, plan, organize and work toward a desired outcome in a flexible manner is often impaired. These skills are often developed over time, but they take practice and patience.
- Psychosocial behaviors: Many students who have incurred a brain injury experience depression, denial, frustration, anger and impaired social judgement. Many of the behavior problems are due to the fact that the student is having to learn and understand their own behavior which is different from the person they were prior to the injury.
This information was gathered from the ABI Handbook: Serving Students with Acquired Brain Injury in Higher Education (1987) and it provides more detailed descriptions of these deficits as well as case studies which illustrate many of the problems and how campuses have dealt with them.
General services available for students with brain injury
Accommodations vary, are based upon documentation and are determined on an individual basis. In the past, students have been eligible for some of the following accommodations:
