Strategies for New Learning

The following strategies are to be used within an instructional design for students with TBI. The effectiveness of any strategy should be evaluated for each student.

• Teach the student strategies for approaching and completing complex and novel tasks. Use the same strategy in different situations to make its use more automatic.  These may include:
  • Breaking the task down into sub-steps,
  • Outlining wordy material,
  • Highlighting,
  • Reading questions first,
  • Reading and listing titles and subtitles.

• Highlight and rehearse the most important information.
• Preview material to be learned in the upcoming week to increase familiarity with context. Tell parents what chapters or content areas will be covered in school so they can look for opportunities to discuss the information or familiarize the student with the content at home.
• Use multi-modal strategies when presenting new information: watch a movie, read a book, listen to the book on tape, make a clay model, apply the new information to different contexts, etc.
• Limit the amount of information presented at one time.
• Provide simple instructions for only one activity at a time and use concrete language.
• Give the student an outline to follow for tasks to complete when studying. This can help the student know when the work is finished.
• Use pictures or visual cues to alert the student when changes in behavior are needed.
• Rehearse a cue before the student is expected to perform it (both verbal cues and visual cues).
• Depending on the student’s strengths, use songs, limericks, or poetry to help recall information.

Adapted from:

Colorado Department of Education. (2001). Brain injury: A Manual for Educators.

Brain Injury Association of Virginia. (2005). Tips for inclusion of youth with TBI in regular classrooms.

Pytel, B.E. TBI Classroom Strategies. (retrieved 2008)