Chapter 8: Interventions for Learners with Traumatic Brain Injuries

Hospital emergency rooms document approximately 500,000 traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in children and adolescents aged 0–14 annually; these prevalence rates do not include those learners evaluated in primary care facilities nor those never evaluated by medical professionals. In this chapter, information on TBI and its effect on learners is provided with emphasis on the idiosyncratic nature of the injury and, thus, the need for individualized reintegration and educational plans. The role of educators in the identification, assessment, reintegration, disability classification, intervention delivery, and progress monitoring is described. Lastly, specific intervention options are presented with cautions that interventions should not be simply picked from a menu, but rather targeting key observations and reported deficits in the physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioral domains.