Common Classroom Problems Associated with TBI

Common Classroom Problems

• Attention span.
• Attention shifting and focusing.
• Memory.
• Reasoning and problem solving.
• Word retrieval difficulties.
• Hyper-verbal speech.
• Confabulation, which usually results from misperceiving the world and making incorrect interpretations, rather than purposeful lying.
• Expressive speech or language problems, such as,
  
  • Discourse ability (speaking on a topic).
  • Tangential speech or difficulty maintaining a topic of conversation.
• Receptive language problems.
• Sexually demonstrative behavior.
• Inflexibility, impulsivity, or difficulty organizing thinking.
• Processing complex information.
• Learning new information.
• Retrieval or storage of information.
• Problem solving or judgment.

Long Term Consquences of TBI

There is a tendency when working with students who have had a brain injury to believe that the early rapid physical healing indicates cognitive recovery will be equally rapid and complete. Unfortunately, physical recovery is not an indication that long-term recovery will continue rapidly or be complete. Two years after a brain injury, the following problems continued in two separate studies.

• Memory problems (74%)
• Fatigue (72%)
• Word-finding difficulties (67%)
• Irritability (67%)
• Impaired speed of thinking (64%)
• Impaired concentration (62%) 
• Depressed mood  (40–50%)  

Sources:

Ponsford, J. Sloan, S. & Snow P. (1995). Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation for Everyday Adaptive Living. Hove, U.K.: Lawrence Erlbaum

Glenn MB, O’Neil-Pirozzi T, Goldstein R, Burke D, Jacob L. (2001). Depression amongst outpatients with traumatic brain injury. Brain Injury, 15(9), 811–818.