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Ten Self Advocacy Tips

This document provides 10 tips PWBI can use to advocate for themselves in everyday life situations.

10 Things You Should Know About Behavior & Brain Injury

This article explores the unique issues around brain injury and behavior.

It’s Okay Not To Be Okay

Education Accommodations After High School

Education accommodation is any change or adjustment to required tasks or the classroom that allows students with disabilities to have an equal opportunity to experience education just like other students.

5 Dimensions of TBI-Related Irritability

The five dimensions of TBI-related irritability: affective, behavioral, cognitive/perceptual, relational, and environmental.

9 Things NOT to Say to Someone With A Brain Injury

Brain injury is confusing to people who don’t have one. Here are a few things you might find yourself saying that are probably not helpful.

A Concussion is a Brain Injury Fact Sheet

Provides quick facts on what a concussion is, the symptoms, and the recovery.

A Fact Sheet for School Nurses

This fact sheet helps school nurses protect students from concussion or other serious brain injury; know how to recognize a concussion and what to do if one occurs; support students who return to school while recovering from a concussion; and provide steps to prevent concussion in school.

A Fact Sheet for Teachers, Counselors, and School Professionals

The potential for a concussion is greatest during activities where collisions can occur, such as during physical education (PE) class, playground time, or school-based sports activities. Teachers and school counselors may be the first to notice changes in their students.

A Fact Sheet for Teachers, Counselors, and School Professionals

This fact sheet will help teachers, counselors, and school professionals know how to recognize a concussion and what to do if one occurs; and support students who return to school while recovering from a concussion.

A Family Caregiver Guide to Selecting Rehabilitation Programs for Persons With Disorders of Consciousness (DoC)

This factsheet explains the medical and rehabilitation care needs of persons with disorders of consciousness (DoC). It discusses the questions to ask when searching for the right program for your loved one with a …

A Guide for Attorneys – Working with Individuals with Brain Injury

This guide is intended to help criminal defense attorneys understand common characteristics of brain injury, provides strategies for engaging an individual to participate in an appropriate defense, and provides questions that screen for possible brain injury.

A Life Course Study on TBI and Trauma in Foster Children

Early and continued exposure to TBI, abuse, violence, and/or neglect with continued maladaptive behaviors suggests that the participants may have experienced changes in brain structure and function over their lives that provided the milieu for continued vulnerability to personal and future injury to future generations.

A Manual for the Glasgow Outcome Scale – Extended Interview

The Manual includes the general principles of assessment, advice on administering each section of the GOSE interview, and guidance on ‘‘borderline’’ and ‘‘difficult’’ cases.

A Survival Guide to Medication Management

One of the most time-consuming and stressful tasks as a caregiver is managing multiple medications and supplements.

Accommodation and Compliance Series: Employees with Brain Injury

JAN’s Accommodation and Compliance Series is designed to help employers determine effective accommodations and comply with Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a form of traditional Chinese medicine that has been practiced for thousands of years, and involves the use of needles and/or pressure and heat for the treatment and prevention of disease. Acupuncture is often used along with conventional medicine to improve health and promote healing.

Acute Inpatient Rehabilitation

Acute inpatient rehabilitation (rehab) is an intensive form of medical rehabilitation in which patients receive core therapies (physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy) overseen by specialized rehabilitation team. This team of physicians, nurses and therapists work together to restore function after traumatic brain injury.

Advocacy Toolkit

This toolkit explains what self-advocacy is, how to advocate for yourself, and provides tools to help.

Alcohol Use After Traumatic Brain Injury

Alcohol and traumatic brain injury (TBI) are closely related. This factsheet describes negative effects that may occur from alcohol use after a TBI.

Alcohol Use Disorder and TBI

This review provides a general overview of the bidirectional relationship between TBI and AUD and a discussion of potential neuropsychological and neurobiological mechanisms that might underlie the relationship.

Am I Eligible for Medicaid?

This handout explains different Medicaid Waivers, the screening process and how to apply.

Anger and Depression

Common changes in emotion after a TBI are anger and depression.

Anger – Signs & Coping Strategies

The most common signs, triggers, and coping strategies for anger.

Answering Questions about CTE

This handout presents information based on the latest science about CTE, including clinical presentation, risk factors, diagnosis, and strategies for discussing CTE with patients.

Aphasia

Aphasia is an issue with language. It affects the ability to produce and/or understand speech as well as the ability to read or write. Aphasia happens because of damage to the brain, most commonly a stroke.     …

Approaches for Identification and Support of Justice-Involved Individuals

Traditional criminal justice reform focuses on efforts to influence an individual’s thinking and attitudes – to help them understand the consequences of their behavior, to make restitution, to learn pro-social behaviors. These approaches may not work for individuals with TBI and this article provides information on how to make traditional methods more effective.

Are Your Medicines Increasing Your Risk of a Fall or Car Crash?

3 in 4 older adults take at least 1 medicine commonly linked to falls or car crashes. Older adults (65 years and older) are at a greater risk if they use any medicine with side effects that can cause problems with how they think and remember, and the way their bodies perform.

Assessment and Treatment of Brain Injury in Women Impacted by Intimate Partner Violence and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health concern that affects millions of people. Physical violence is one type of IPV and has myriad consequences for survivors, including traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

At-Home Activities to Improve Cognition

Ideas, activities, and strategies for improving cognition, including memory, problem-solving, orientation, organization, and reasoning.

Attention and Concentration Problems

People who have sustained a brain injury may not immediately recognize that their ability to concentrate has changed, which can lead to misunderstandings when others perceive an inability to concentrate as a lack of intelligence or motivation.

Attention Challenges Following TBI: Overview and Treatment Strategies

The nature and frequency of attention lapses following a TBI can regularly disrupt daily activities at home, work, and in the community. This research brief provides an overview of attention challenges following TBI and treatment approaches for managing these challenges.

Balance After Traumatic Brain Injury

People with traumatic brain injury (TBI) often have problems with balance. About half of people with TBI have dizziness and loss of balance at some point in their recovery.

Balance and Dizziness After Brain Injury

Dizziness and balance problems are common after a brain injury. This can result in problems with movement even when there is no loss of function in the limbs themselves.

Behavior Changes after Moderate to Severe TBI

This handout explains possible behavior changes after TBI, why they happen, and how to deal with behavior issues.

Behavioral Health Guide: Considerations for Best Practices for Children, Youth, and Adults with TBI

An overview of the prevalence and systemic issues that add to the complexity of supporting individuals with brain injury and co-occurring behavioral health.

Being a Parent With a Traumatic Brain Injury

 This factsheet includes tools for how to overcome parenting challenges that might be encountered after a …

Brain Injury and Housing Quick Guide

From budgeting and paying bills to making sure housing is safe and accessible, there is a lot to consider when finding and securing housing. Locating affordable, stable housing is difficult, and wait lists are long across the state; if someone requires supervision or daily assistance with self-care or household tasks, those places can be even harder to come by. There are resources available, and this Quick Guide tells you how to get started and where to find help.

Brain Injury Basics Quick Guide

The brain can be hurt in many different ways: falls, sports, car accidents, assaults, strokes, and brain tumors are some of the most common types of injuries. Brain injuries can be either traumatic or non-traumatic, but can cause similar problems in a person’s life.

Brain Injury, Hormone Issues, and the Endocrine System

Pituitary system, the endocrine system, and common hormonal issues that might occur after brain injury.

Brain Injury Housing Tool Kit

Tool kit designed to provide basic housing information for individuals impacted by brain injury.

Brain Injury in Children and Youth – A Manual for Educators

This manual includes an educational identification process for special education eligibility through establishing a significant history of TBI.

Brain Injury in Children Under 4 Years Old

Provides information about brain injuries (BI) in young children and how to decrease the risk, and protect children from BI.

Brain Injury in Schools: An Educator’s Guide

This guide walks educators through the basics of a brain injury, its effects on students and families, and how they impact education, transitions, and special education.

Brain Injury & Opioids

The symptoms caused by a brain injury can increase the likelihood of abusing substances like opioids to temporarily relieve physical pain. Opioid addiction is on the rise, which is why it’s important to understand how it affects the brain injury community.

Brain Interrupted – Early Life TBI and Addiction Vulnerability

Preclinical research utilizes an innovative combination of models of early-life TBI and SUD to recapitulate clinical features and to determine how TBI promotes a risk for the development of SUD.

Brain Mapping Video

Brain maps show the inner workings of the brain and how it is able to transmit information. They can be used to study neurological disorders and inform better diagnostic and treatment procedures.

Breathing Retraining

Everyone knows that breathing is an essential part of life, but did you know that breathing plays an essential role in anxiety? This information sheet will briefly discuss the role of breathing in anxiety and guide you through a simple breathing retraining technique that uses breathing patterns to help deal with anxiety.

Cambios emocionales tras una lesión cerebral traumática

La forma en que las personas experimentan o expresan las emociones puede cambiar después de sufrirse una lesión cerebral traumática (LCT). Si bien esto puede ser angustiante para los miembros de la familia y los amigos, muchas estrategias pueden ayudar a manejar estas preocupaciones emocionales después de una LCT. …

Caring for Your Child’s Concussion

Fact sheet for parents to understand how to best care for and monitor their child’s concussion.

CDC Guideline for Diagnosis and Management of mTBI in Children

The CDC guideline includes 19 sets of recommendations on the diagnosis, prognosis, and management/treatment of pediatric mTBI that were assigned a level of obligation (ie, must, should, or may) based on confidence in the evidence. Recommendations address imaging, symptom scales, cognitive testing, and standardized assessment for diagnosis; history and risk factor assessment, monitoring, and counseling for prognosis; and patient/family education, rest, support, return to school, and symptom management for treatment.

CDC Heads Up Rocket Blades: The Brain Safety Game

Rocket Blades is a mobile game app developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that teaches concussion safety and brain safety to children ages 6 to 8.

Challenges with Executive Functioning After a Brain Injury

Executive functioning refers to mental processes that help us connect past experiences with present actions. There are three main areas of executive functioning: working memory, flexible thinking, and inhibitory …

Checklist for Brain Injury Problems and Symptoms

This checklist is a tool to help people with brain injuries prepare for a visit with their doctor to help them better understand the problems that can occur after an injury.

Childhood TBI and the Associations with Risk Behavior in Adolescence and Young Adulthood: A Systematic Review

Systematic review of the evidence that childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with risk behavior in adolescence and young adulthood.

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) vs Post Concussion Syndrome (PCS)

This fact sheet explains what chronic traumatic encephalopathy is (CTE) and compares it to post concussion syndrome (PCS).

Clinical Trial Research: What does it Offer?

Clinical trials are research studies in which people may volunteer to participate. The following information offers suggestions for searching for clinical trials and a listing of a sample of clinical trials currently recruiting volunteers.

Cognitive Dysfunction, Brain Volumes, and TBI in Homeless Persons

Describes brain volume changes and related cognitive/motor deficits in homeless persons with or without TBI versus controls.

Cognitive Problems After a Brain Injury

After a TBI it is common for people to have problems with attention, concentration, speech and language, learning and memory, reasoning, planning and problem-solving.

Cognitive Symptoms of Vestibular Disorders

Vestibular disorders can affect your ability to think, specifically to pay attention and concentrate, to remember, to reason, and to problem solve. Often times, you may find you are easily distracted, both by external stimuli (others talking, TV) and by internal stimuli (your thoughts and feelings).

Common Vision Problems & Symptoms Following a Concussion

Following a concussion, there is often an interruption in communication between the eyes and the brain. Visual problems, however, are often overlooked during initial evaluation as symptoms may not be present until days, weeks or even longer following the incident.

Communication Disorders After a Brain Injury

A brain injury can affect a person’s ability to communicate by impairing their hearing, speech and cognitive processing. Regardless of the type of injury, problems can affect both the ability to receive and express thoughts and ideas.

Communication Tips for Caregivers

Tips for improving communication between family caregivers and healthcare professionals.

Communication Tips for Caregivers

This handout provides tips for improving communication between family, caregivers and healthcare professionals.

Cómo Cuidar De Su Hijo Después de una Conmoción Cerebral

Los síntomas de una conmoción cerebral pueden aparecer durante el proceso normal de sanación y generalmente mejorarán con el tiempo. La mayoría de las personas con una conmoción cerebral se sienten mejor dentro de las dos semanas. …

Compassion Fatigue for Caregivers

Are you drained, tapped out, have little energy to give others? We have all been there.

Compassion Fatigue for Caregivers

This article explains what compassion fatigue is, and ways that caregivers/family can manage it.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine: General Overview

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) are those medical practices not usually a part of conventional Western medicine (the scientifically based medicine practiced by licensed medical doctors in the US), but have been widely used for thousands of years in other cultures. This brochure is designed to provide an overview of CAM and very briefly describe some of the many alternative practices and systems available and gaining popularity in the US.

Comprensión de los cambios de comportamiento tras una lesión cerebral traumática moderada a grave

Esta hoja informativa explica los cambios den comportamiento después de una LCT. …

Comprensión y afrontamiento de la irritabilidad, la ira y la agresión después de una LCT

Esta hoja informativa explica la irritabilidad, la ira y la agresión luego de una …

Concussion and Risk of Chronic Medical and Behavioral Health Comorbidities

Patients with concussion demonstrated an increased risk of development of medical and behavioral health comorbidities. The risks for post-concussion comorbidities were also higher in patients under 40 years old compared with controls.

Concussion Basics

Concussions are often described as “mild,” but their affects can still be serious and impact an individual’s life long after the injury. This is why knowing the signs, symptoms and recovery options for a concussion is important for everyone to know.

Concussion Do’s and Don’ts: The First Few Days of Recovery

Concussion recovery is a complex process and can be influenced by individual actions. Knowing what to do and not to do in the first few days of recovery can have considerable long term benefits.

Concussion Information for Patients and Families

This Concussion Booklet was created to give you the information you need to know to get better after a concussion. It can be helpful in the first few days and during recovery.

Concussion/Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in the Elderly

Summarizes symptoms of a concussion, special considerations for the elderly, and information on recovery.

Concussion Recognition and Response for Those with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities

Recognizing concussions in individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities requires a different approach. Current concussion baseline and post-injury tests are unlikely to be as reliable or accurate for those with intellectual disabilities or developmental disabilities.

Concussion Signs and Symptoms Checklist

Checklists for school nurses and other school professionals to assess whether a student may have a concussion.

Confusion After Brain Injury

Confusion is common following a brain injury. It usually improves shortly after the injury occurs, but in some instances, it can last weeks, months, or even longer. Confusion occurs more often in older adults (>66 years old) but can happen to anyone following a brain injury. Typically, the more severe the brain injury, the more frequent and severe the confusion.   …

Connecting Domestic Violence and Brain Injury A Professional’s Guide to Screening & Intervening for Brain Injury

A guide for professionals working with individual’s experiencing sexual and domestic violence to screening and intervention for brain injury.

Consejos para las personas con lesión cerebral traumática que van a votar

Las personas que han sufrido una lesión cerebral traumática pueden tener dificultades para votar a causa de una amplia gama de alteraciones de la funcionalidad física, auditiva, visual, cognitiva, emocional, conductual y de la comunicación. …

Consumo de alcohol tras una lesión cerebral traumática

Esta hoja informativa describe los efectos negativos que pueden ocurrir debidos al consumo de alcohol después de una LCT. Consulte las páginas 3 y 4 para obtener sugerencias sobre cómo disminuir el consumo o dejar de beber. …

Convulsiones después de una lesión cerebral traumática

Las convulsiones son un problema de salud que puede ocurrir después de una lesión cerebral traumática (LCT o por sus siglas en inglés, TBI). Aunque la mayoría de las personas con LCT nunca sufrirán una convulsión, 1 de cada 10 personas que fueron hospitalizadas después de una LCT tendrán convulsiones. …

Coping with Post-TBI Anxiety & Stress

Following a life-changing event like a brain injury, it’s normal to feel intense stress which can build up and lead to anxiety. Anxiety becomes a significant concern when these feelings intensify to a point where they interfere with the tasks of life.

Couples’ Relationships After Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

This fact sheet will help couples understand some of the common changes they may notice in their relationship after TBI. Also, suggestions are given on how couples can address some of the more difficult changes they are experiencing.

Credible History Interview of a Person with Brain Injury for Families & Professionals

This interview form provides guiding questions about the history of a person with a brain injury. It can be used by family to collect information for a healthcare visit, or used by professionals to record important medical history of a person with BI.

Dealing with COVID-Related Anxiety While Living with a Brain Injury

This handout provides general tips that individuals, families and caregivers can use when dealing with COVID-related anxiety and a brain injury.

Depression After Traumatic Brain Injury

Feeling sad is a normal response to the losses and changes a person faces after TBI. There is cause for concern when feeling depressed or losing interest in usual activities occurs at least several days per week and lasts for more than two weeks.

Disinhibition or Hyper Sexuality after a Traumatic Brain Injury

Following a brain injury people can experience many sexual changes, including hyper sexuality, also called “compulsive sexual behavior,” means being excessively intrigued with …

Dolores de cabeza después de una lesión cerebral traumática

Dolor de cabeza es uno de los síntomas más comunes después de una lesión cerebral traumática (a menudo llamado “dolor de cabeza postraumático”). Más de un 30% de las personas reportan dolores de cabeza que continúan hasta mucho después de la lesión. …

Violencia doméstica y lesión cerebral traumática

Esta tarjeta de consejos brinda información sobre
uno de los efectos menos reconocidos de la violencia
doméstica: la lesión cerebral traumática (TBI).

Domestic Violence and Brain Injury Pocket Card

This tip card gives information about one of the most unrecognized effects of domestic violence: Traumatic Brain Injury …

Domestic Violence and Brain Injury Tip Card

This tip card gives information about one of
the most unrecognized effects of domestic
violence: Traumatic Brain injury (TBI).

Driving After Traumatic Brain Injury

A brain injury can affect the skills needed to drive safely. If and when an injured person may safely return to driving should be addressed early in recovery.

El conducir después de una lesión cerebral traumática

Conducir es una parte importante del estilo de vida independiente y la integración de una persona en la comunidad. Debido a que damos por sentado nuestras destrezas para conducir, es fácil olvidar que conducir es una de las cosas más peligrosas que hacemos en nuestro diario vivir. …

El equilibrio después de una lesión cerebral traumática

Las personas con una lesión cerebral traumática (LCT) a menudo tienen problemas con el equilibrio. Aproximadamente la mitad de las personas con LCT sufren mareos y pérdida de equilibrio en algún momento de su recuperación. …

El retorno a la escuela después de una lesión cerebral traumática

La participación del padre y la madre es crítica cuando una persona joven regresa a la escuela después de una lesión cerebral traumática (TBI, por sus siglas en inglés). El padre y la madre tienen el mayor conocimiento sobre su hijo(a) y están profundamente comprometidos con el bienestar y el futuro de su hijo o …

El sueño y las lesiones cerebrales traumáticas

Muchas personas que tienen lesiones cerebrales sufren problemas del sueño. No dormir bien puede aumentar o empeorar la depresión, la ansiedad, el cansancio, la irritabilidad y el sentido de bienestar de la persona. …

Emotional Changes after Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): A Comic

This comic strip explains common emotional changes following a TBI and how to seek help.

Emotional Problems After Traumatic Brain Injury

A brain injury can change the way people feel or express emotions, including anxiety, anger, and irritability. This articles covers several types of emotional problems and provides potential strategies for dealing with them.

Engagement Strategies for TBI Survivors Serving on a Board

This guide is a resource for individuals with brain injury to be fully participating members on a board.

Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a chronic condition produced by temporary changes in the electrical function of the brain, causing seizures which affect awareness, movement, or sensation. Epilepsy has a close relationship with traumatic brain injury and other brain disorders.

Ethical Considerations in Chronic Brain Injury

Alignment of perspectives and priorities, as well as responsibilities for ongoing treatment, education, community outreach, and research are important ethical considerations for clinicians and researchers.

Evaluation of a Brief, Skill-Building, Supportive, and Educational Intervention for Couples After Brain Injury

Evidence that a curriculum-based education, skill-building, and supportive intervention can benefit couples for up to 3 months after treatment.

Everything You Wanted To Know About Counseling After Brain Injury

Life after a brain injury can be overwhelming for both the survivor and family members. Counseling is simply another form of therapy that helps people recover and adjust emotionally after their accident.

Evidence-based Guideline for Clinicians: Disorders of Consciousness

This systematic review has highlighted the complexities of caring for patients with a prolonged disorder of consciousness (i.e., lasting 28 days or longer) at every stage. Accurate diagnosis is important to educate families about patients’ level of consciousness and function, to inform prognostic counseling, and to guide treatment decisions.

Evidence-based Guideline for Families and Caregivers: Disorders of Consciousness

This guideline looked at the evidence mainly for people with a disorder of consciousness lasting 28 days or longer after a brain injury. For these people, health outcomes differ greatly.

Facts about Concussion and Brain Injury

A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head. Concussions can also occur from a fall or a blow to the body that causes the head and brain to move quickly back and forth.

Facts About the Vegetative and Minimally Conscious States

This factsheet defines and explains the different types of changes in consciousness that can occur after severe brain injury.

Fall Prevention for Adults

Falls are a leading cause of traumatic brain injury. This resource has tips for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and keeping your home safe to help prevent falls.

Fatiga y las lesiones cerebrales traumáticas

Cuando usted está fatigado, es menos probable que pueda pensar claramente o que pueda realizar actividades físicas. Si está abrumado por la fatiga, tiene menos energía para cuidarse o para hacer cosas que disfruta. …

Fatigue and Lack of Motivation

Fatigue is a very common outcome after acquiring a brain injury due to the many tiny sites of damage throughout the brain. It is different to the yawning and sleepy feeling of normal fatigue.

Fatigue and Traumatic Brain Injury

Fatigue is a very common problem among all people with TBI. Studies of people with TBI found that between 37% and 98% of them said they had some kind of fatigue.

Financial Aid Resources for College

Searching for scholarships for a student with a brain injury may feel overwhelming. The Brain Injury Association developed this resource to assist students and parents in their search.

Financial Resources

This article outlines the different financial resources, benefits and entitlements that may be available for individuals with brain injury and their family.

Five Things You Should Know About Substance Use after Brain Injury

More than half of those requiring inpatient rehabilitation for brain injury may have had prior problems with alcohol and other drug use. Individuals with these problems before the injury are at risk for even greater problems if they continue to drink or use drugs after the …

Geriatric Traumatic Brain Injury

Presents the epidemiology of geriatric TBI, the impact of comorbidities and pre-injury function on TBI risk and outcomes, diagnostic testing, management issues, and critical directions for future research.

Getting the Most Out of Your Telehealth Visits

Telehealth is not perfect but, with a little bit of preparation, telehealth visits can be successful. This information will help you prepare for a telehealth appointment.

Problems with Organizing

Feel like you can’t get organized after your brain injury? Here are some simple but effective strategies that can help you get on track

Glossary of Brain Injury Terms

List of commonly used terms to help individuals and family members better understand brain-injury related terms.

Guidance on “Long COVID” as a Disability Under the ADA,Section 504, and Section 1557

In light of the rise of long COVID as a persistent and significant health issue, the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice have joined together to provide this …

Guideline for Concussion/Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Persistent Symptoms

This guideline can be used by patients when speaking with healthcare providers about their care. It covers getting a diagnosis, managing symptoms in the early phase (acute) and management in the longer recovery phase (persistent symptoms).

Guidelines for the Management of Pediatric Severe TBI

Revised evidence-based recommendations for the treatment of severe traumatic brain injury in pediatric patients. This update includes 22 recommendations. New recommendations on neuroimaging, hyperosmolar therapy, analgesics and sedatives, seizure prophylaxis, temperature control/hypothermia, and nutrition are provided.

Habilidades sociales tras una lesión cerebral traumática

En esta hoja informativa se explica qué son las habilidades sociales, cómo una LCT puede afectarlas, y algunos consejos para mejorarlas después de una LCT. …

Headaches after Traumatic Brain Injury

Did you know that there are different kinds of headaches and migraines? This article explains what the different types mean for you and your health.

Headaches and Brain Injury

Headaches are a common and often persistent problem after acquiring a brain injury. Headaches can arise after damage to different structures both inside and outside the head.

Healthcare Appointment Checklist for Post-COVID Conditions

This checklist is designed to help patients and caregivers get the most out of appointments with healthcare providers for post-COVID …

Hearing Impairment After Brain Injury

A brain injury can cause hearing difficulties because of physical damage to the ear itself or damage to the neurologic processes in the brain that control hearing.   …

Hearing Problems After A Brain Injury

A brain injury can damage both mechanical and neurological processes and result in a variety of hearing difficulties. Accurate diagnosis and treatment are essential.

Help Your Child Be Successful at School After A TBI

Parents and families play a crucial role in helping children return to school and activities after a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). The more you know about TBI, the more you can help make sure your child is feeling well, and is successful at school.

Helpful Tips for Managing Your Child’s Brain Injury

This article provides tips for dealing with the family changes and guilt that can occur when a child gets a brain injury.

Helping Students Recover from a Concussion: Classroom Tips for teachers

Teachers play an important role in helping students recover from a concussion as they return to school. Making short-term changes to students’ school workload and schedule—and giving them the time to help their brain heal—can help them get back to their regular school routine.

Herbs and Herbal Medicine

Herbal medicine involves the use of natural and biologically based practices, interventions, and products to treat a variety of physical or emotional conditions. If you are interested in using herbal preparations, you should be as informed as possible about the risks and benefits.

Hiring In-Home Help

This article provides ways for how to assess if in-home help is needed, the types of in-home services available, and how to access the help.

Home Fit Guide

Smart ways to make a home comfortable, safe and a great fit for older adults — and people of all ages.

Homelessness and Brain Injury – A Professional’s Guide

Intended to give homeless services providers and advocates information and supports related to the intersection between brain injury and
homelessness.

Housing Options/Residential Services for Individuals with Brain Injuries

Housing options for people with brain injury vary greatly in the amount of assistance offered. Public funding for these services are limited.

How Can I Help My Child Recover after a Concussion?

Most children with a concussion, a type of traumatic brain injury, feel better within a couple of weeks. It is important to remember that each concussion and each child is unique, so your child’s recovery should be customized based on his or her symptoms.

How to Document a Brain Injury for Service Eligibility

Depending on the situation, it can be difficult to obtain medical documentation that a brain injury has occurred. When there are no medical records related to the injury that can be obtained, a structured in-depth interview can be utilized to establish a significant and credible history of TBI and document the impact most probably related to a TBI.

How to Hire a Caregiver

Finding the right home care worker for your loved one is an important step.

Traumatic Brain Injury and Domestic Violence Facts for Providers

The connection between domestic violence and traumatic brain injury (TBI) is strong, but often overlooked. Service providers play a key role in screening for and addressing the signs and behaviors associated with TBI and domestic violence, as this fact sheet will explain.

Hypoxic and Anoxic Brain Injury

About hypoxic and anoxic brain injury and what the difference is between …

IEP Tip Sheet What are Supplemental Aids & Services?

This tip sheet introduces and briefly defines supplementary aids and services that promote access to and in general education …

Impact of Brain Injuries on Family

Describes common problems for families after a loved one experiences a brain injury. Also provides ways to manage those problems.

Impaired Self-Awareness and Brain Injury

Lack of self-awareness is a common outcome for people who sustain brain injuries with frontal lobe damage, which can lead to unrealistic goals such as returning to work despite a severe brain injury.

Improvement of Communication Skills After TBI: Efficacy of the Cognitive Pragmatic Treatment Program using the Communicative Activities of Daily Living

Cognitive Pragmatic Treatment is shown to improve communication abilities after TBI, thus enabling better management of communication activities in daily living.

Impulsive Behavior

Injury to the frontal lobes after a TBI can affect the area of the brain that normally controls our impulses, which can lead to impulsive and inappropriate social behavior.

Individualized Education Program (IEP) vs. 504 Plan

Learn what these two programs mean with in the school …

Información sobre el estado vegetativo y de mínima consciencia después de una lesión cerebral grave

La conciencia es tener conocimiento de uno mismo y de su entorno. La lesión cerebral puede causar trastornos de la conciencia (TDC). Algunas lesiones son leves; éstas pueden causar cambios menores en la conciencia, como una breve confusión. Las lesiones severas pueden causar inconsciencia permanente.   …

Instrumental Activities of Daily Living

Outlines several ways a person with a brain injury can improve or maintain their ability to perform IADLs.

Intersection of TBI, Substance Abuse, Mental Illness, and Criminality

Understanding the intersection between criminality, mental illness, substance use, and traumatic brain injury has important implications for improving individual functioning, reducing recidivism, and promoting safer behavior management in criminal justice settings.

Is It a Psychiatric Disorder or TBI Medical Mimic?

The medical issues associated with traumatic brain injury are often mistakenly diagnosed as psychiatric disorders. A few simple questions and tests can elucidate the real culprit and lead to appropriate treatment.

La depresión después de una lesión cerebral traumática

La depresión es un sentimiento de tristeza, pérdida, desesperación o desesperanza que no mejora con el tiempo y que es lo suficientemente abrumador como para interferir con la vida diaria. Usted tiene motivo para preocuparse si se siente deprimido o pierde interés en las actividades acostumbradas por lo menos varios días por semana y si esta situación dura más de dos semanas. …

La espasticidad y la lesión cerebral traumática

La espasticidad es el tensado muscular incontrolado (aumento del tono muscular) causado por señales alteradas del cerebro. Es una situación común que se presenta en las personas que han sufrido lesiones cerebrales traumáticas (LCT). …

La lesión cerebral traumática grave: qué se puede esperar en el centro de traumatología, en el hospital y después

Las lesiones cerebrales traumáticas graves no solo afectan a la persona lesionada sino a los familiares y amigos que la quieren y están cerca de ella. Como usted es uno de ellos, desempeña un papel importante en el cuidado del paciente. Para muchas personas, esta es una función nueva que genera muchas preguntas. …

La memoria y la lesión cerebral traumática entre moderada y grave

En esta hoja informativa se explican los problemas de la memoria que pueden afectar a las personas que han sufrido una lesión cerebral traumática entre moderada y grave. Al entender los nuevos límites que su memoria tiene y las formas de superarlos, las personas afectadas por este tipo de lesiones pueden continuar realizando lo que tienen que hacer a diario.   …

La pérdida del olfato o del gusto después de una lesión cerebral traumática

En esta hoja informativa se explica la pérdida del olfato o del gusto que puede presentarse después de una lesión cerebral traumática. …

La sexualidad después de una lesión cerebral traumática

Después de una lesión cerebral traumática es común que se presenten alteraciones de la función sexual. Si usted está teniendo problemas sexuales, hay cosas que puede hacer para resolverlos. …

Las relaciones de pareja después de una lesión cerebral traumática

Después de sufrir una lesión cerebral traumática (LCT), muchas parejas encuentran que la relación con su pareja cambia drásticamente. Esos cambios son bastante personales y pueden ser demasiado emocionales para dos personas en una relación. La presente hoja informativa busca ayudar a las parejas a comprender algunos de los cambios comunes que pueden notar en su relación después de la …

Legal Resources

You and your family may need an attorney’s help navigating life after a brain injury. For most of the issues listed here, it is very important to act early. If you wait too long to take action, evidence can be harder to find and you may lose out on compensation, benefits, and appropriate care.

Lesión cerebral traumática y dolor crónico: Parte 1

El dolor es una sensación desagradable que puede variar de leve a muy grave. El dolor es muy personal; dos personas pueden tener el mismo tipo y cantidad de dolor y reaccionar de modo muy diferente. …

Lesión cerebral traumática y rehabilitación ambulatoria aguda

Esta hoja informativa describe la rehabilitación aguda de pacientes hospitalizados después de sufrir una lesión cerebral traumática (LCT o TBI por sus siglas en inglés). Se explica qué problemas se encaran, quién está involucrado y cómo elegir el formato de cuidados. También se habla de lo que sucede después de que un paciente se va a …

Preparing for Life After High School

For students with traumatic brain injury (TBI), the basic transition challenges are the same as for any young person, yet they are usually more complex. Good planning greatly improves the chances that the move from high school to young adulthood will be a successful one.

Limb Weakness or Paralysis

Damage to the area of the brain responsible for moving muscles can cause weakness or paralysis. Brain injuries on the left side of the brain affects the right side of the body and brain injury on the right side of the brain will affect movement on left side of the body. …

Long COVID

‘Long COVID’ is the term often used when someone experiences COVID-19 symptoms for at least four weeks after the initial infection. Long COVID may also be referred to by other names, such as post-COVID conditions, PASC (post-acute sequelae of COVID-19) or long-haul …

Long-Lasting Pathological Mental Fatigue After Brain Injury – A Dysfunction in Glutamate Neurotransmission?

Research on the cellular mechanisms underlying mental fatigue suggest a dysfunction in the astroglial support of the glutamate transmission. Glutamate signaling is essential for information processing, including learning and memory.

Loss of Smell or Taste After Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause problems with smell and taste. Loss of smell is often the cause of loss of taste after TBI.

Managing Anger & Irritability After TBI – The power of PAUSE

Anger and irritability are common side effects of a brain injury. Here are some strategies to help reduce anger, irritation, and aggression with an acronym to help remember.

Managing Behavioral Problems During Brain Injury Rehabilitation

This article discusses potential behavioral problems that can present a challenge for rehabilitation staff during acute rehabilitation following traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Managing Dizziness Following Concussion/Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Dizziness is a term used to describe everything from feeling faint or lightheaded to feeling weak or unsteady. The room may seem to spin (also known as vertigo) or you may feel off-balance, as if you are about to fall. Symptoms can come on suddenly or may be caused by movements such as turning your head. Dizziness can last for seconds to minutes or longer. …

Managing Intense Emotions

This article provides information about controlling your anger after an injury, the dangers of anger, recognizing early warning signs for anger, and ideas about how to better control anger.

Mechanisms of TBI in a Justice-Involved Population

Some mechanisms of TBI, particularly violence related TBIs such as assault have been associated with poor outcomes compared to other TBIs, such as greater cognitive impairment, higher rates of alcohol use, poorer vocational outcomes, and poorer community reintegration.

Medicaid Waivers in Virginia

Medicaid waivers help people with disabilities and the elderly access medical, rehabilitative, and other services in their homes and communities. Medicaid waivers allow the state to waive certain requirements, such as an individual needing to live in an institution to receive some Medicaid benefits.

Memory and Moderate to Severe Brain Injury

This fact sheet explains memory problems that may affect people with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). By understanding the new limits on their memory and ways to help overcome those limits, people with TBI can still get things done every day.

Memory Problems and Tips

Short-term memory loss is very common after a brain injury – thankfully there are plenty of coping strategies available. Typical situations include forgetting people’s names, losing a train of thought, getting lost at the shops, repeating or forgetting past conversations, misplacing objects and difficulty learning new skills.

Mental Health & Brain Injury

The effects of brain injury and mental illness can look very similar, which is why understanding the relationship between the two is important for individuals to advocate for themselves and for medical professionals to make accurate diagnoses.

Salud Mental y Lesiones Cerebrales

Los efectos de una lesión cerebral y una enfermedad mental pueden parecer muy similares, por lo que comprender la relación entre ambas es importante para que las personas puedan defenderse a sí mismas y para que los profesionales médicos realicen diagnósticos precisos.

Model of Cognitive-Communication Competence: A Model to Guide Evidence-Based Communication Interventions after Brain Injury

This study describes the development of the model of cognitive-communication competence, a new model that summarizes a complex array of influences on communication to provide a holistic view of communication competence after TBI.

Models of Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation options for brain injury are expanding and there are more options than ever before, including hospital- and community-based rehabilitation models.

My Child’s Brain Injury: Coping with Guilt

This handout provides strategies that other parents have used in coping with guilt from a child’s brain injury.

My Parent Has a TBI: A Guide for Teenagers

Having a parent who is recovering from a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) can make being a teenager very hard sometimes. Many teens tell us that their lives have become very complicated. Often, they are not sure where to turn for help. This article will explain some of the normal feelings and experiences many teenagers have when they are living with a parent who has a brain injury. …

Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation

Visual deficits related to traumatic brain injury and other neurological disorders should be evaluated by a Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Optometrist, a doctor who has special expertise in the assessment and treatment of visual disturbances associated with damage to the central nervous system.

Neurobehavioral Abnormalities Associated with Executive Functioning after TBI

Systematic review addressing how anomalies of executive function after traumatic brain injury (TBI) can translate into altered social behavior that has an impact on a person’s capacity to live safely and independently in the community.

Neuropsychological Evaluations

Diagnosing a brain injury is not always as simple as getting a scan or picture of the brain. This is why something like a neuropsychological evaluation can help pinpoint the issues someone is having, what it causing it, and how to treat it effectively.

Pain Dashboard

A multi-study of individuals with TBI and chronic pain to improve individual health and function to promote community participation and employment.

Pediatric mTBI Checklist

Checklist for providers treating children 18 years of age and younger.

Pediatric mTBI Diagnostic Recommendations

This handout for healthcare providers describes diagnosis-related recommendations contained in the CDC Pediatric mTBI Guideline.

Pediatric mTBI Management and Treatment Reccommendations

This handout for healthcare providers provides an overview of the management and treatment-related recommendations contained in the CDC Pediatric mTBI Guideline.

Pediatric mTBI Prognostic Recommendations

This handout for healthcare providers describes prognosis-related recommendations contained in the CDC Pediatric mTBI Guideline.

Pediatric Stroke

Pediatric stroke is a rare condition. It affects 1 in every 4,000 newborns as well as about 2,000 older children each year. Strokes occur when blood flow is blocked or …

Post-Concussion Symptom Checklist

This checklist can be used to understand the extent of an individual’s post concussion symptoms.

Post-Concussion Syndrome

Post-concussion syndrome is a complex disorder in which various symptoms — such as headaches and dizziness — last for weeks and sometimes months after the injury that caused the concussion. In most people, symptoms occur within the first seven to 10 days and go away within three months.

Post-Traumatic Stress

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common after a traumatic event that leads to a brain injury (e.g. an assault, a near drowning or a motor vehicle accident). Not all people who sustain a brain injury will experience post-traumatic stress and not all people who develop post-traumatic stress will experience the same severity of symptoms.

Preventing Suicidal Behavior After Traumatic Brain Injury

TBI is a risk factor for suicidal ideation and behavior. People with TBI can experience persistent cognitive, somatic, or psychological symptoms that can lead to poorer mental health, physical function, and quality of life. Veterans with a history of TBI were found to be at higher risk for suicide.

Problemas cognitivos después de una lesión cerebral traumática

Esta hoja informativa explica los cambios cognitivos comunes después de sufrirse una LCT y cómo …

Problemas de visión tras una lesión cerebral traumática (LCT)

Esta hoja informativa trata de los problemas con su visión después de sufrir una LCT y cómo tratarlos. …

Problems with “Getting Started” with a Task after Brain Injury

The ability to effectively begin and complete tasks is often affected following a brain injury. What happens in your brain while starting and completing tasks involves many complex …

Problems with Perception of Time after a Brain Injury

After a traumatic brain injury, patients can experience a variety of problems, such as the perception of time. There are steps that can be followed to help with time perception by establishing basic routines, breaking down tasks, and establishing prompts to promote accuracy with time.

Progressive Muscle relaxation

Muscle relaxation can be particularly helpful in cases where anxiety is especially associated to muscle tension. This information sheet will guide you through a common form of relaxation designed to reduce muscle tension.

Rancho Los Amigos Levels of Cog. Functioning Scale: Guide for Family & Friends

This guide will give you and your family helpful information about brain injury recovery. It explains how people with a brain injury recover from a cognitive and behavioral point of view.

REAP The Benefits of Good Concussion Management

The REAP Project which stands for Reduce – Educate – Accommodate – Pace is a community-based model for Concussion Management. It is a model that empowers schools, families, students and medical professionals to come together — to coordinate, collaborate and to help young people achieve the safest recovery from concussion.

Recognizing & Treating Concussions in the Elderly

Provides information about recognizing concussions in the elderly, steps to take, and considerations.

Respite Resources

Respite is an important tool to assure the primary caregiver is getting a break.

Respite Resources

This document provides information about several respite options available in Virginia.

Returning to School After a Concussion: A Fact Sheet For School Professionals

This fact sheet helps school professionals know how to recognize a concussion and what to do if one occurs; and support students who return to school while recovering from a concussion.

Returning To School After Traumatic Brain Injury

Parental involvement is often critical when a young person is returning to school after a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Parents have the most knowledge about their child and are deeply invested in their daughter’s or son’s well-being and future.

Returning to Studies

Identifies potential challenges in returning to studies after a TBI and strategies to deal with these new challenges as they arise.

School Letter – Returning to School After Concussion

Letter to school staff template to be used after a child is diagnosed with a concussion to inform of symptoms and potential short-term accommodations that may be needed.

Screening for Brain Injury

Brain injury screening tools that can be implemented by clinicians and professionals to better understand a patient’s situation.

Seizures After Traumatic Brain Injury

Although most people with a TBI will never have a seizure, 1 out of 10 people who were hospitalized after a TBI will have seizures. It’s good to know what a seizure is and what to do if you have one.

Self-Advocacy: Explaining Brain Injury to Others

This resource provides many examples of how to communicate a brain injury to others.

Self-Care & Resiliency for Caregivers: A Quick Guide

This quick guide provides ways in which caregivers can promote resiliency and self-care in their own lives.

Ser padre con una lesión cerebral traumática

Esta hoja informativa incluye herramientas sobre cómo superar los desafíos de crianza que podrían encontrarse después de una …

Severe TBI: What to Expect in the Trauma Center, Hospital, and Beyond

This fact sheet explains how a severe TBI affects the injured person, what to expect from a team of doctors and other health care professionals providing care, and how you can support this team and your loved one on his or her road to recovery.

Sexuality After Traumatic Brain Injury

Changes in sexual functioning are common after TBI. If you are experiencing sexual problems, there are things you can do to help resolve these problems.

Shaken Baby Syndrome

This handout provides facts about shaken baby syndrome, risk factors, prevention tips, and resources to connect with.

Sleep and Traumatic Brain Injury

Sleep disturbances and disorders occur more often for persons with brain injury but there are ways to manage these symptoms to promote better sleep and overall health.

Smart Phone Apps: Tips and Tricks for Getting the Most out of Technology

Did you know your phone can actually be a tool in your brain injury recovery? There are so many low cost and free apps for just about anything, including helping to keep you relaxed, organized, or to keep track of health information.

Social and Recreational Activities

Staying socially connected and finding activities that are rewarding and fun can be difficult to do, but is a critical part of brain injury recovery and returning to a new normal.

Social Skills After Traumatic Brain Injury

After a traumatic brain injury (TBI), people may have problems with social skills. These problems can differ from person to person and can be harder to manage when feeling strong emotions, such as anger or excitement.

Spasticity and Traumatic Brain Injury

Spasticity is the uncontrolled tightening (increased muscle tone) caused by disrupted signals from the brain. It is common in persons with severe brain injuries (TBI).

Special Education Services

This quick guide provides information about eligibility for special education services, services available, and how to apply for services.

Strategies for Brain Injury

Brain injury can be a perplexing condition. The person may look and act much as before their injury but have difficulty in day-to-day activities that can seem “simple” to the person they’re talking with. Family members and professionals can use these strategies to help the person with a brain injury that you’re communicating with. The person with a brain injury can also use the ideas listed to self-advocate for themselves with others, primarily once they identify the best strategies for themselves.     …

Stroke

Understanding what puts an individual at risk for a stroke, how to spot a stroke in the moment, and what recovery looks like are the three main concepts covered in this document.

Successful Aging of Individuals with Brain Injury

The following 10 rules are designed to promote successful aging in TBI survivors. They build upon the Alzheimer Association’s effort to potentially avoid Alzheimer’s disease.

Suggestions for Substance-Abuse Treatment Providers

Provides guidance and strategies for substance abuse treatment providers working with persons with brain injury or cognitive impairments.

Supporting Independence Among Persons with Brain Injury

This article provides practical tips for caregivers to release control and promote independence for their loved ones who sustained a brain injury.

Taking Care of Your Child After Their Head’s Been Hurt

There are many ways our child’s head can get hurt. Knowing the signs, symptoms, and appropriate recovery options is important for all parents to understand to keep their children safe and healthy.

Taking Care of Yourself After Your Head’s Been Hurt

A fall, a car accident, or any sort of blow or jolt to the head can cause a concussion, which is a mild brain injury. This sort of injury might affect the way you function, although the changes might not be noticed for several weeks or months after the injury.

Talking to Children about Parents with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

This article provides information about discussing a family member’s brain injury with a child, as well as tips to help them cope.

Targeted Case Management Fact Sheet for Family Members of Individuals with TBI

Medicaid has a new program that your loved one may qualify for! It’s called Brain Injury Services Targeted Case Management (BIS TCM). This program can help you find and get medical and other services in your community, for your loved …

Targeted Case Management Fact Sheet for Individuals with TBI

Medicaid has a new program that you may qualify for! It’s called Brain Injury Services Targeted Case Management (BIS TCM). This program can help you find and get medical and other services in your community. …

TBI and Chronic Pain Comic Part 1: Life with Chronic Pain

This comic details what chronic pain can look life after TBI and some pain management and coping strategies for PWBI.

TBI and Chronic Pain Comic Part 3: Managing Spasticity

This comic explains what spasticity is and potential spasticity management strategies.

TBI and Chronic Pain Comic Part 4: Pain and Anxiety

This comic explains the relationship that can develop between chronic pain and anxiety and finding ways to deal with it.

TBI and Chronic Pain Comic Part 2: Co-occurring Injury and Pain

This comic details the experience of dealing with multiple injuries including TBI and some potential strategies to help adjust.

TBI and Substance Use Disorders Toolkit

Toolkit for providers to understand the effect of TBI on substance abuse, effective screening measures, and how best to deliver treatment.

TBI in Infants and Toddlers 0-3 Years Old

Children 0-3 years old, present with a total distinctive pathology than adults. Children with head injury must be addressed to a pediatric department of neurosurgery and pediatric intensive care unit. Prophylaxis plays the most important role in improving the outcome.

TBI in the Homeless and Marginally Housed

Homelessness is a global public health concern, and traumatic brain injury (TBI) could represent an underappreciated factor in the health trajectories of homeless and marginally housed individuals.

The Effects of Substance Use and TBI

Provides reasons why alcohol and other drug use after traumatic brain injury is not recommended. Demonstrates the effects of substance use on the brain following TBI.

The Problem of Substance Use and TBI

Information about substance use before and after TBI and during treatment.

The Recovery Process

This factsheet explains the recovery process after a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Often, the fastest improvement happens in the first six months after injury.

Therapeutic Strategies for Concussion Management

This infographic provides therapeutic interventions to help support concussion management and improve recovery. Includes info on exercise therapy, manual therapy, diet and nutrition, and more.

Thinking and Behavior Management Strategies for Caregivers and Professionals

A partnership approach can be an effective way to negotiate solutions to thinking and behavior problems. This means acting as partners in the decision-making process by working together to determine how to solve a problem.

Tips for Moving A Loved One to Virginia

Are you considering relocating an out-of-state older relative to Virginia? There are many things to consider and prepare for prior to a move, with added special considerations with older adults.

Transitioning Out of School for Students with TBI

This handout provides information about transition services and transitioning to college.

Traumatic Brain Injury and Chronic Pain: Part 1

This factsheet will help you understand the common causes and symptoms of chronic pain for people with traumatic brain injury.

Traumatic Brain Injury and Chronic Pain: Part 2

This factsheet will explain some of the more common ways people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) manage chronic pain without the use of medication.

Traumatic Brain Injury & Domestic Violence Quick Guide

Domestic violence (or, intimate partner violence) is a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over the other. The connection between the two is strong: nearly 75% of domestic violence survivors have a traumatic brain injury as a result of the abuse.

Traumatic Brain Injury Facts: TBI & Older Adults

Older adults are at a higher risk for TBI and have the highest rates of hospitalization after brain injury. It is important to know the facts about TBI to help protect yourself and loved ones.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) & Headaches: A Comic

This comic strip explains the prevalence of headaches within the TBI population, the types of headaches, and how to manage headaches triggers using a headache diary.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in Children

This is a quick guide for parents/caregivers that provides info on what symptoms to look for, returning to school, and recovery take-aways for children who sustained a TBI.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in Infants & Children

Provides information about TBI in infants and children, and considerations for returning to school.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) & Sleep: A Comic

This comic strip explains the effects of TBI on sleep, common sleep disorders, how to get help and what that may look like, and sleep management strategies.

Treating Depression Following Traumatic Brain Injury – A Summary for Clinicians

This summary describes findings from a systematic review conducted to evaluate the evidence supporting pharmacologic, other biological (e.g., electroconvulsive therapy), and psychotherapeutic or rehabilitation treatments for depression after TBI

Treating Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury

This Advisory briefly summarizes key elements of TBI and describe its relevance to behavioral health, including recommendations for how behavioral health professionals can better meet the needs of patients who have a history of TBI.

Treatment for Substance Use with TBI

Effective new and modified approaches to treating substance abuse in individuals with TBI.

Types, Roles, and Services of Professionals

There are many types of health care professionals who specialize in different things that can be helpful for people with brain injuries so it’s important to know who and what to look for when needing treatment.

Understanding and Coping With Irritability, Anger, and Aggression After TBI

This factsheet explains irritability, anger, and aggression after …

Understanding Brain Injury: A Guide for Employers

Employers are required to provide reasonable accommodation to help any employee with a disability achieve vocational success. This publication supports the intent of the law and provides employers with a guide for successful integration of employees who have brain injuries into the workplace.

Understanding Concussion: A Comic

This comic strip explains what a concussion looks like, how it affects the brain, the recovery process, and returning to school/play. It also includes a symptom checklist at the bottom.

Understanding TBI – Brain Injury Impact on Individuals’ Functioning

A brain injury may cause different problems, depending upon which parts of the brain were damaged most. There are three general types of problems that can happen after TBI: physical, cognitive and emotional/ behavioral problems.

Understanding TBI – What Happens During injury and Early Stages of Recovery

This fact sheet details what a brain injury is and what the first few days and weeks can be like after a TBI, depending on the severity of the injury.

Understanding Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): A Comic

This comic strip explains what a brain injury is and its effects, the rehab process, therapy, and strategies that people with a brain injury can use.

Updated Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Guideline for Adults

This Guideline is based on the 2008 Mild TBI Clinical Policy for adults. To help improve diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for patients with mild TBI, it is critical that you become familiar with this guideline. The guideline is especially important for clinicians working in hospital-based emergency care.

Vision Problems After Traumatic Brain Injury

Depending on its location and severity, a TBI can affect your vision by damaging parts of the brain involved in visual processing and/or perception (e.g., cranial nerves, optic nerve tract or other circuitry involved in vision, occipital lobe).

Voting Tips for People with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

This fact sheet explains why it is important to vote. It includes tips for people with TBI on when, where, and how to vote.

Ways to Improve Your Memory – Concussion/Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI)

Coping skills and strategies to help improve memory following concussion.

What College Disability Specialists and Educators Should Know

In this document we explain what executive functions are, how they interfere with college life, and the supports students with TBI need to have equal access in college.

What is Biofeedback?

Biofeedback is a technique where you are connected to electrical sensors that help you receive information about your body. This feedback helps you make subtle changes in your body, such as relaxing certain muscles, to achieve the results you want, such as reducing pain.

What is Complementary, Alternative, and Integrative Health?

Many Americans use health care approaches that may have started outside of usual Western practice. The use of integrative approaches to health and wellness has grown within care settings across the United States.

What is Vestibular Rehabilitation?

Vestibular rehabilitation is a specialized form of physical/occupational therapy to address dizziness, imbalance, difficulty maintaining clear vision, and functional decline as a result of vestibular disorders. A vestibular disorder can cause permanent deficits, so therapy is often designed to allow compensation.

When a Child has a Brain Injury: Impact on Entire Family

This handout provides common problems and solutions that some families use to help them feel supported and strong.

When Your Patient is Living with Brain Injury

A tip card for physicians treating individuals living with chronic brain injury sequelae.

Working with Individuals with Brain Injury – A Professional’s Guide

Brain injury can be difficult to diagnose, but knowing how to identify and work with an individual who has sustained a brain injury can lead to a more productive relationship with them. This tip sheet is intended to offer information on screening for possible brain injury and provide strategies for engaging an individual in an appropriate plan of care.

Your Child’s Development

This handout explains the developmental changes that may occur in a child following a brain injury.