A traumatic brain injury and head injury can cause damage to the brain that may contribute to both short term and long term difficulties with communication and cognitive functioning. An injury of this kind can occur both from the impact of an external force or an internal event such as a stroke, tumour or disease.  

A head or brain injury is usually occurs following a series of events which can all be damaging. There is the initial trauma that causes direct damage to the brain, then minutes afterwards there maybe further injury because there is a lack of oxygen to certain parts of the brain. In the days that follow further damage may occur due to bleeding, bruising and swelling.

Depending on the severity of the injury, initial symptoms may vary from a concussion to coma. Many people are not aware that a concussion is an injury to the brain and can have effects that last for several weeks. Several concussions over a period of time can lead to longer term difficulties.

An injury to the brain can have huge, far reaching effects on an individuals health and well-being. There are a number of symptoms with regard to cognitive functioning that are common following brain injury:

• Motor difficulties
• Cognitive difficulties
• Fatigue
• Memory difficulties
• Communication difficulties – speech and language
• Social use of language
• Executive functioning – skills for planning and initiating tasks
• Attention difficulties
• Behaviour – inappropriate behaviour, social skills difficulties, anger, depression etc
• Reading and writing difficulties

A holistic approach is often taken with treatment and rehabilitation, with a team of health professionals providing a range of services and therapy. The team approach is important because certain goals cannot be achieved without the expertise of several people. Although recovery can be a slow process many strategies can be put in place to facilitate communication and daily living skills.

The longer term outlook

Your brain will make some spontaneous recovery following a brain injury, but often you will be left with residual or even serious difficulties. A big part of rehabilitation will focus on adaptation of your environment and your communication. icommunicate will provide many simple strategies that you can use to facilitate communication and daily cognitive tasks and lead a full, active and independent life.