Traumatic Brain Injury

Question 1

Deficit areas

Answer 1

Cognitive: perception, memory, problem solving
Psychological: social disinhibition (acting out)
Lack of initiative, distractibility, inability to adapt, perseveration, frustration, anxiety, depression

Question 2

Causes

Answer 2

Diffuse brain damage resulting from external physical force (car accident, bike accident…)

Question 3

How prevalent is TBI in children?

Answer 3

1 million children/adolescents in the US

Question 4

Range of Severity

Answer 4

Mild Concussion: loss of consciousness for less than 30 seconds
Moderate TBI: loss of consciousness or posttraumatic amnesia for less than 30 minutes
Severe TBI: Coma for 6 hours or longer

Question 5

Risk factors for TBI

Answer 5

Lower IQ
Social disadvantage
Poor schooling
Behavioral/physical difficulties prior to injury

Question 6

How does age of injury factor in to recovery?

Answer 6

Younger: Children face more complex problems. Less to recover and more development yet to take place, but do not have the benefit of prior learning
Older: Less chance of improvement, neural recovery over time unpredictable and irregular

Question 7

Semantics

Answer 7

Word retrieval/naming deficits
Vocab may be intact but difficulty naming objects
Atomized, over-learned language generally unaffected

Question 8

Syntax/Morphology

Answer 8

Sentences lengthy/fragmented

Question 9

Phonology

Answer 9

Few difficulties, though Dysarthria/Apraxia may exist secondary to injury

Question 10

Comprehension

Answer 10

Problems due to inattention/processing speed
Poor auditory and reading comprehension
Sentence comprehension secondary to syntax and semantics problems

Question 11

Pragmatics

Answer 11

*The Hallmark of TBI*
Off topic, ineffectual, inappropriate comments
Lengthy explanations
Appropriate eye contact
Less complex narratives
Reduced sentence complexity