About brain injury

The Rehabilitation Team have put together some fact sheets about acquired brain injury. 

Acquired Brain Injury:  General information

• Acquired Brain Injury
• How the brain works
• Post traumatic amnesia (PTA)
• Stages of recovery

Communication

• Alternative and augmentative communication
• Aphasia after brain injury
• Articulation and phonological disorders
• Dysarthria
• Verbal dyspraxia
• Word finding difficulties

Cognitive (thinking) skills

• Attention and concentration
• Cognitive fatigue
• Flexible thinking skills
• Impulsivity
• Inappropriate behaviour
• Making and keeping friends
• Memory and new learning
• Monitoring and insight
• Planning and organisational skills
• Problem solving skills
• Reasoning and abstract thinking
• Speed of information processing

Medical Information

• Dizziness
• Dysautonomia
• Incontinence
• Seizures after brain injury

Motor Skills

• Dyspraxia
• Eyes and vision
• Fine motor skills
• Gross motor skills
• Physical activity for children with a disability
• Physical effects of injury

Self Care Skills

• Bathing and dressing
• Living skills
• Period management
• Sexuality
• Toiletting

The rehabilitation team at RCH acknowledge the work of the Westmead Children's Hospital brain injury team on which many of these resources above are based.

You may find the following websites on Acquired Brain Injury useful

• Brainwave is an organization whose mission is to connect and care for families and children diagnosed with a neurological condition such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy, stroke or brain tumour.
  
• Brainlink is a statewide service that is dedicated to improving the quality of life of people affected by conditions of the brain and providing support to their families.
  
• Heads together is an organization set up for families to support each other and create opportunities for people impacted by Acquired Brain Injury.
  
• Working with people with Traumatic Brain Injury this websites provides learning for working with people with traumatic brain injury. Pages on this site also have useful resources for families.
  
• Brain injury Australia provides information on Acquired brain injury.
  
• CanChild the CanChild Centre for Child Disability Research was established to do research addressing children and youth with disabilities and their families.
  
• Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI): The rehabilitation service at RCH is linked to the Critical Care & Neurosciences theme research group in MCRI.  
• Stroke foundation has information on childhood stroke, including booklets ,  podcasts,  learning modules, and  clinical guidelines for stroke management.
• Facebook page for Little Stroke Warriors.

Health professionals may find the following guidelines useful

• Guide aimed at hospital and community-based health care professionals involved in the rehabilitative management of children after stroke. https://www.mcri.edu.au/sites/default/files/media/subacute_rehabilitation_of_childhood_stroke_clinical_guidelines.pdf 
• Guideline is aimed at health professionals working in secondary level acute paediatrics, tertiary level paediatric neurology, neurosurgery, emergency medicine, cardiology, haematology and intensive care. The Diagnosis and Acute Management of Childhood Stroke Clinical Guidelines 2017

Please Note:This is an evolving list of useful resources for children, families and service providers.  If there are links or services that we have not included, please send us an email at rehab.service@rch.org.au and we will add them to our list.