This article introduces a framework for conceptualizing four forms of cognitive neuroplasticity. The concepts include: (1) homologous area adaptivity; (2) cross-modal reassignment; (3) map expansion; and (4) compensatory masquerade. The limitations of each form of plasticity are presented. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

Describes the incidence of catastrophic head injuries within high school and college sports. Data from a national surveillance system indicated that a football-related fatality occurred every year except one from 1945-99, mainly related to head injuries. From 1984-99, 69 football head-related injuries resulted in permanent disability. Deaths and…

Context: Ambulance transport of pediatric trauma patients to designated trauma centers in cases of moderate and severe injury is not always performed, which has been shown to result in poor treatment outcomes. Determination of factors involved in inappropriate patient transport, especially in rural areas, remains an important avenue of research.…

This study investigated written language in the form of personal and formal letters written by 10 people who sustained a stroke and 10 people who sustained traumatic brain injury, and compared their performance with 15 non brain-damaged people. In order to explore the writing skills of these individuals from a sociocultural perspective, a…

Objective: To assess the phenomenology and predictive factors of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) after traumatic brain injury (TBI), also called secondary ADHD (SADHD). Method: Children without preinjury ADHD 5-14 years old with TBI from consecutive admissions (n = 143) to five trauma centers were observed prospectively from 6 to…

At 3 years of age the spontaneous language of 17 typically developing children was compared to two groups of toddlers who were at risk for language delay for very different reasons. One at-risk group, late talkers, appeared normal in all respects except for their delayed language. These 20 children scored at or below the fifteenth percentile for…

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) have the potential to significantly disrupt a student's cognitive, academic, social, emotional, behavioral, and physical functioning. It is important for educators to appreciate the array of difficulties students with TBI may experience in order to appropriately assess needs and create an educational plan that…

The present study used a chimeric stimuli task to assess the magnitude of the left-hemispace bias in children with congenital unilateral brain damage (n=46) as compared to typically developing matched controls (n=46). As would be expected, controls exhibited a significant left-hemispace bias. In the presence of left hemisphere (LH) damage, the…

The aim of this study was to relate discharge King's Outcome Scale for Childhood Head Injury (KOSCHI) category to injury severity and detailed outcome measures obtained in the first year post-traumatic brain injury (TBI). We used a prospective cohort study. Eighty-one children with TBI were studied: 29 had severe, 15 moderate, and 37 mild TBI. The…

This report addresses comments and recommendations of parents of children with traumatic brain injury (TBI) as well as those of professionals. The report is in two sections: (1) What Parents Say about the Time of Injury; and (2) What Emergency Personnel Should Know. The first section presents quotes from five parents about reactions and…

This leaflet examines alcohol and other drug abuse prevention for individuals with traumatic brain injury. The characteristics and incidence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) are noted. The implications of alcohol and other drug use are discussed, emphasizing that TBI is often related to lifestyles where alcohol and other drug abuse and risk taking…

These guidelines were developed for serving students with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in school settings. An introduction reviews the frequency of TBI, range of severity, and legal responsibility for special education services. Guidelines are offered for creating prevention and awareness programs and for implementing staff development. A section…

This paper on traumatic brain injuries begins with statistics on the incidence of the disorder, especially as they relate to Colorado. Traumatic brain injury is then defined, and problems caused by traumatic brain injury are discussed. The components of effective programming for students with traumatic brain injuries are described, followed by the…

This study used dependency analysis to document and describe the narrative discourse impairments of 10 children (mean age 12) and 10 adults (mean age 35) with traumatic brain injury (TBI), and matched controls. Individuals with TBI were significantly more disfluent than controls and their narrative performance required a significant listener…

This study of 54 individuals with head injuries compares a commonly used measure of physical disability, the Barthel Index, with three measures designed to assess intellectual functioning, communication, behavior, and mobility. The results indicate support for using scales other than the Barthel Index when describing disability following traumatic…