The Role of Parents and Teachers In Children With Traumatic Brain Injury
Accidents can happen to anyone and at anytime regardless of age, gender or race. This sad fact is so true especially among the children that have just sustained traumatic brain injury.
Children that have been hit by a car, fall to the ground headfirst or are struck by an object suffer from what is known as traumatic brain injury. This will affect how a child thinks, moves and acts which will take a long time to fix.
If the child falls and there is no sign of blood, the best thing to do is bring him or her in to the hospital for a closer look. MRI, CT scans and X-rays will be able to see if there is blood clotting in the child and if there is, surgery must be done immediately to reduce the swelling.
It will take some time before the child is allowed to go back to school. During that time, parents should inform the teachers of what has happened so they will realize that special care must be given.
If the child is unable to cope with what happened, the parents have to check if the school has special education services. If it does not have one, perhaps you should just that they do.
Both teachers and the school can come up with an Individualized Education Program or IEP to address such issues. It also must be flexible because the student will not be able to absorb the information as fast as before.
Another thing parents that have children with traumatic brain injury should do is work alongside the doctors. You shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions and do some research on your own since the medical field itself does not have yet all the answers to help the patient.
Studies have revealed that the long term effects of children that have experienced brain traumatic injury include Epilepsy, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. This is quite serious which is why parents should document the progress of the child.
This will tell doctor's what options have been used in the past, which ones have worked and what can be improved on.
You are not alone should your child be suffering from a traumatic brain injury. In fact, this happens all across the country and there are support groups that you can join to help you get through this crisis.
On the part of the teachers, he or she must pay special attention by giving the child more time to finish assignments or exams. If there are a lot of instructions or they may appear to be confusing, this should be explained slowly or written down.
If new lessons are being taught in the classroom, it will be a good idea to show examples or do it in front of the student so they will be able to do the same. Doing this regularly makes it possible to have a routine
The most important thing to do is get in touch with the child's parents to give them a progress report on how things are going. This will help them feel better given the situation which has affected their family so badly.
As the teacher, you should not feel frustrated or impatient if things are not going as planned. The child has been through a lot and nothing is going to change the fact that he or she has suffered from a traumatic brain injury.
As parents and/or teachers we need to be very cognizant of the needs of children with traumatic brain injury.
Head Injury Tip #1
Any injury to the head should be taken very seriously. Otherwise, the injured person could suffer from paralysis or even death if necessary medical treatment is not administered immediately. Without conducting some tests, like x-ray and/or CT scan, the injured or the doctor will not know the extent of the injury.
Head Injury Tip #2
Observe the injured person constantly for additional symptoms that may develop. Document these changes meticulously to help the patient's physician in diagnosing the extent of the brain injury, since onset of symptoms may occur days, weeks or months after the initial injury.
Head Injury Tip #3
Get as much details as soon as possible about the incident that caused the traumatic brain injury. Whatever the cause of the injury - car accident, work-related, working around the house, etc., it will be important to have all the details documented in case the cause of the injury ends up in court.