What is Brain Injury? • getting lost or easily confused • Limit choices to two or three items.

Brain Injury is an injury to the brain that happens • slowness in thinking or acting • Whenever possible do not change activities
after the first day of life. Brain Injury may be • change in sleep patterns abruptly, give warnings and prompts
caused in a variety of ways, and result in various • loss of balance beforehand to allow the child to adjust or
levels and types of disabilities. • blurred vision finish the task.
• ringing in the ears • Try to build flexibility into the routines so the
Some causes of brain injury might include:
Shaken Baby Syndrome, auto accidents, falls, • dizziness child learns early that things do change (this
• feeling tired all of the time may be difficult as routines provide “comfort
sports injuries, lack of oxygen, assault, stroke, zones” for individuals with Brain Injuries).
drug/medication overdose, domestic violence, • poor decision-making skills
• poor organizational skills Reminders to check daily schedules vs.
bicycle accident, horseback riding accident, weekly routines may be helpful.
repetitive concussions, brain surgery, brain • forgetfulness
• Identify stress triggers and avoid them if
tumors, and more. How is Brain Injury diagnosed? possible or be ready to intervene or distract
Persons with Brain Injury have difficulty Brain Injury is a neurological disorder. It is not an when you see the child beginning to melt-
reconciling the person they used to be with the emotional or behavioral condition, although down.
person they have become. They often exhibit because of the difficulties with social interaction • Teach strategies for coping.
depression, anxiety, irritability, and low- and communication, individuals with Brain Injury • Do not expect a skill or behavior mastered
frustration tolerance. may have emotional and behavioral issues. This in one environment to be generalized to all
is because persons with Brain Injury usually environments – the skill or behavior must be
Characteristics can vary widely, from the person have a normal IQ prior to Brain Injury, and while taught in all environments and in situations
who appears slightly distracted to someone who intellect may or may not remain intact, access to which mirror “real life”.
is unable to communicate basic needs. Speech
may be peculiar in tone, meter, articulation and
stored information is impaired by the injury. • Recognize anger and outbursts as
use of words. Inability to select appropriate There are no simple blood tests or x-rays to “overload” or frustration and provide the
words in conversation is common. Many people determine Brain Injury. Doctors utilize CT Scans child with a safe, stress-free place to cool
with Brain Injury attempt to cover this by asking and MRIs to identify visual scars and larger off and calm down.
others to provide the word they cannot retrieve injuries to the brain. However, many injuries are • Be aware that a child with Brain Injury may
by describing the word and what it means. smaller and do not show up well on these tests. be over stimulated by noise, lights, chaos,
In those cases a neuropsychological evaluation unstructured time (recess, lunch, PE), or
Individuals often have no outside visible can help to identify specific areas of damage and strong tastes, bold patterns, bright colors,
indication of their injury. They are frequently told methods of treatment or re-training. sounds, varied textures, smells – and
by others that they appear perfectly fine and that provide a quiet spot or guidance to help him
they should “pull themselves together” and “get Helpful strategies cope.
over it”. Many Brain Injury survivors are not for parents and teachers • Although the individual’s vocabulary and
diagnosed with brain injuries until years after the • Keep directions and conversation simple. use of language may be high, she may not
incident, and then medical documentation may For complicated and multi-task activities, know the meaning of what she is saying,
be minimal or missing altogether. use written directions and lists, broken nor will she understand sarcasm, teasing or
down into short steps. some forms of humor because her
Common characteristics
• Encourage children and give lots of praise perspectives are very literal.
of Brain Injury and attention for any achievement, • Some individuals with Brain Injury have
• impulsivity especially when they use appropriate social difficulty remembering information or
• poor planning skills without prompting (i.e. when the child retrieving that information, so provide them
• inappropriate conversational topics looks at you when you speak to him; when with picture or written schedules, written
• lack of motivation the teen interacts with peers in an assignments, and help getting that
• persistent headache appropriate way). information into the backpack to go home.
 • Do not expect age-appropriate behaviors To access State-funded services for children
or skills – children may have some skills with brain injury contact:
equivalent to their age, but not be able to Developmental Disabilities Division
remember to take their homework home
or be able to interact with their
(307) 777-7115 BRAIN
•
classmates.
Don’t assume that just because the For more information about
INJURY
individual isn’t making eye contact, he is
not listening – he may hear and BRAIN INJURY
CONTACT: Disability Brochure #5
understand better if not forced to look
directly at you. Brain Injury Association of Wyoming
• Some children with Brain Injury learn best 111 W. 2nd Street, Suite 106
with visual aids, such as picture Casper, WY 82601
schedules, others may be better with 1-800-643-6457
verbal instruction or hand signs (especially Email: [email protected]
to reinforce certain messages such as Website: www.wybia.org
“wait your turn” or “speak more slowly or
quietly”. Parent
• It may take a person with Brain Injury
longer to respond to questions or requests Information
– he needs time to process information,
formulate an answer and then respond.
Center
• One of the biggest challenges for children
2232 Dell Range Blvd Suite 204
with Brain Injury is making friends or
Cheyenne WY 82009
developing relationships– identifying 1 or (307) 684-2277
2 students who can be their buddies will (888) 389-6542 (fax)
help, as will helping other children E-mail: [email protected]
understand that one of the challenges that Website: www.wpic.org
children with Brain Injury face is difficulty Characteristics and
reading social situations – just as others Coping Strategies
may need glasses to read print, these
children need patience, understanding
and help making and keeping friends.
Members of the community or school staff may
not recognize a child with Brain Injury as PHP of WY is a non-profit, 501(c) 3 organization;
having a disability because they may be quite therefore, your donation is tax deductible. We
high-functioning in some areas. This disability welcome all donations. Every donation helps us
can be an “invisible” disability and it is up to strengthen our network of support for families.
Parent Information Center
parents to provide the support and information 1-307-684-2277
to help their child get the necessary services. The contents of this brochure were developed under a
grant from the U.S. Department of Education. However, A project of
the contents do not necessarily represent the policy of
the Department of Education, and endorsement by the Parents Helping Parents
Federal Government should not be assumed. of Wyoming, Inc.