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Grant Wood AEA Brain Injury Resource Team
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A multi-disciplinary team will provide consultation and information to other AEA staff and local school teams who are working with students with traumatic brain injuries (head injuries).
Grant Wood AEA
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(319) 399-6700
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What is Traumatic Brain (Head) Injury?
There are two basic types of brain or head injuries: "Closed Head Injury" and "Open Head Injury."
Closed Head Injury
A Closed Head Injury is usually caused by a rapid acceleration and deceleration of the head during which the brain is whipped back and forth, thus bouncing off the inside of the skull. The stress of this rapid movement pulls apart nerve fibers and causes damage to the activated system of neuro-fibers which send out messages to all parts of the body.
Such injuries are usually caused when the body and/or the head is hurled at a rapid speed, such as during a motorcycle, snowmobile or automobile crash. The body may even keep moving after the vehicle has been stopped.
Such crashes put extreme stress on the brain stem which is the only thing connecting the brain to the spinal cord. A large number of functions are packed tightly in the brain stem, such as controls of consciousness, breathing, heart beat, eye movements, pupil reactions, swallowing and facial movements. All messages, sensations and signals from the brain to the rest of the body must pass through the brain stem.
A Closed Head Injury, then, also causes physical, intellectual, emotional, social and vocational difficulties for the injured person. These problems may affect both the present and future life and personality of the person who is injured. Indeed, it frequently means that the person, as you once knew him/her, may never again be quite the same person. Even more complex is that persons having nearly identical accidents may exhibit very different physical and emotional changes or no changes at all.
Open Head Injury
An Open Head Injury is always visible and may be the result of a gunshot wound or a variety of external objects penetrating into the brain. The injury is usually located at a focal point in the brain so very specific identifiable problems will result.
Finally, cardiac arrest, stroke, and drowning can cause anoxia (loss of oxygen to the brain) and thus result in a brain injury. In these cases, all brain cells may be affected so there may be an overall change in behavior and personality.
Tips for families and teachers working with students with brain injuries
Encourage rests or breaks whenever frustration or fatigue appears. Their brains are working overtime to compensate and a lot of invisible effort is being expended. This will avoid discouragement or temper control problems.
Keep activities and surroundings simple. Too much, too fast, too soon leads to confusion and poor emotional control.
Accept setbacks. Abundant encouragement and making light of setbacks assures overall growth. A sense of humor helps.
Write things down that you want the person to do. Never expect them to remember to carry out a sequence of tasks of more than one or two steps.
Give honest feedback, with equal attention to praise and constructive criticism.
Surroundings should offer familiarity, predictability and consistency, with regularly scheduled meals, activities and rest.
Do not surprise the person with a brain injury; explain activities fully before initiating them.
Use wall charts, reminder notes, labels, calendars, notebooks, journals, and other memory aids abundantly. Praise frequently when these are used and work.
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