Kyle Hamilton-Lecky

Teaching Children who have Experienced a Traumatic Brain Injury

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) defines a Traumatic Brain Injury
(TBI) as “an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total
or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a
child’s educational performance” ([34 Code of Federal Regulations §300.8(c)(12)]. According to
the Center for Disease Control, an estimated 1.7 million people suffer from a TBI every year.
Many of the recommendations for helping students who suffered from a TBI are simply good
teaching practice, but it does pose some unique problems. Many of these stem from the dynamic
nature of a student’s recovery. Students are typically, though not always, expected to recover
over time, but this improvement is almost never linear. Due to this open communication and
patience are crucial to successful teaching of students who suffered a TBI.
Open communication is vital for working with students who suffer from a TBI because of
each student's divergent and changing needs. When a student first returns to school after the
injury, teachers should work with the student, their guardians and the student’s healthcare
providers to set up the classroom so the student can succeed. Some recommendations for this
include providing hard copies of lectures, reducing background noise and light in the classroom,
posting a schedule to help the student anticipate classroom events, and providing a quiet space
they can retire to if they are overstimulated. Once this ecosystem is set up, the teacher should be
prepared to provide additional scaffolding and work breaks for the student as needed. The
recovery can be a long process, so it is important to continuously communicate with the student
and their support groups as they improve.
Patience is vital to teaching students who suffered a TBI due to the non-linear nature of
recovery. ​Students will be able to do some tasks some days and struggle mightily with the same
tasks a few days later. Additionally, subjects and tasks students dislike require additional focus
and discipline, so they often will feel worse when doing them. Some teachers may therefore feel
as though the student is exploiting their diagnosis to get out of work, but this variance is to be
expected.​Students can struggle with impulse control, classroom behavior can suffer. Teachers
should always try to address root causes of behavioral issues with students, but for these students
“the connection between behavior and consequences is often affected” (CBIRT Class) so
teachers need to be patient and consistent.
Teaching a student who suffered from a TBI is a challenging task, but if teachers
implement some recommended teaching strategies, keep open lines of communication with the
student and their support groups, and work to be patient and understanding, they can help
students recover as quickly as possible. I would like to know more about the long-term effects on
children. One source mentioned increased risk of psychosis ten years after the injury and I would
be interested to know if there are any other major long-term effects for younger children.
Sources:
https://www.parentcenterhub.org/tbi/#ref
https://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/pdf/blue_book.pdf
https://tbi.vcu.edu/faq/problems-after-brain-injury/
https://learn.cbirt.org/1/mod/lesson/view.php?id=412