BIAV Educators Guide

Brain Injury and the Schools: A Guide for Educators

In the 1990 reauthorization for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, traumatic brain injury (TBI) was included for the first time as a special education classification. According to the National Pediatric Trauma Registry (2002), brain injury is the leading cause of death and disability in children and young adults in the United States.

Not all brain injuries are classified as such in the educational system; traumatic injuries that occur as a result of external force are; non-traumatic causes of injury are not. Data from the Pediatric Trauma Registry (2002) indicates that less than 2% of students with brain injury seen in emergency departments are referred to special education services. So, even though the numbers of students with TBI reported in school counts are likely underreported, the schools are the single largest provider of services to children with brain injury.

This guide is primarily written for school personnel, including regular and special education teachers, instructional assistants, school psychologists and social workers, guidance counselors, administrators, therapists, and school nurses. The manual is also written to inform hospital staff about the educational system and to educate families so they might better understand and advocate for their child.

The Brain Injury Association of Virginia (BIAV) developed this manual to summarize recent developments in the treatment and education of these children. The manual provides an overview of brain injury and its cognitive, psychosocial, and physical consequences. It provides many resources for teaching and non-teaching personnel: strategies for addressing the issues these children may have relative to education and transition and where to find additional information. BIAV utilized the material in the manual to conduct over 20 workshops to teachers, instructional assistants, school nurses, psychologists, social workers, and therapists. We have consulted with school personnel working "in the trenches" and used the feedback from those workshops to create a user friendly manual that, while providing some necessary background information, focuses heavily on strategies.