Brain injuries affect millions of Americans, from the 5 million living with a disability related to traumatic brain injury (TBI) to the 2.8 million who experience a TBI every year. March is Brain Injury Awareness Month, and we couldn’t let this month pass without taking the time to highlight the role that ASHA members play in serving this population.
At the ASHA Journals, we’ve published dozens of articles in the last year alone to provide our members with the latest information on treating this growing population. We’ve highlighted five articles below, one from each of our journals, that can help clinicians treating people of all ages with TBI.
Children and Young Adults With TBI
A Scoping Review of Auditory Dysfunction After Childhood Traumatic Brain Injury: At least one third of adults with TBI experience hearing dysfunction, but little research has been done on children with TBI. Given that hearing dysfunction can result in lower language skills and decreased social participation, the authors reviewed existing literature and highlighted the need for further research to improve long-term outcomes for children with TBI.
Speech-Language Pathology Assessment of School-Age Children With Traumatic Brain Injury: A Scoping Review: The second scoping review we’re highlighting can help school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) provide theoretical, evidence-based, and person-centered evaluation methods for children with TBI. The authors found that SLPs may need to assess multiple domains of functioning such as expressive and receptive language, cognitive-communication, and pragmatics to gain a better understanding of the child’s areas of need.
Young Adults With Acquired Brain Injury Show Longitudinal Improvements in Cognition After Intensive Cognitive Rehabilitation: Sustaining an acquired brain injury as a young adult can significantly disrupt key developmental milestones, such as attending college or starting a career. This study found that an intensive impairment-based retraining of language and other skills with “real-world” application promoted gains in cognitive processes that promote academic success.
TBI in Adults
Systematic Review of Discourse and Social Communication Interventions in Traumatic Brain Injury: Impairments in discourse and social communication are a hallmark of cognitive-communication in TBI across all levels of severity. In this review, the authors identified five treatment components that SLPs are encouraged to use when developing a discourse or social communication intervention program.
Traumatic Brain Injury in Older Adults: Epidemiology, Etiology, Rehabilitation, and Outcomes: Falls are the leading cause of TBI in older adults, and normal sensory, motor, and cognitive changes that occur with aging increase the risk of falling. In this article, the authors suggest that researchers must work to design and implement evidence-based, cost-effective measures that focus on prevention of the leading causes of TBI in older adults.
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SLPs screen, assess, and treat people with TBI, and audiologists can help people who are experiencing hearing and vestibular deficits after TBI. We hope that the articles cited here can help clinicians treat these patients in their everyday practice and can guide scientists to further investigate the research needs that these authors have identified.
Looking for more from the ASHA Journals? Our latest special issue from the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (AJSLP) contains highlights from the 3rd International Cognitive-Communication Disorders Conference. In this issue, learn about various solutions and tools from experts, and read more in Context.
You can learn more about brain injury awareness, including tools to help spread the word, from the Brain Injury Association of America. Thank you so much for recognizing Brain Injury Awareness Month— and for everything you do for people with brain injuries every day!
