Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Definition and Classification

According to the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), Traumatic Brain Injury is

defined as an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total

or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a

child’s educational performance. Can include open or closed injuries which would

result in the impairments of one or more areas. This can include language, cognition, attention,

memory, speech, sensory, motor abilities, reasoning, judgment, thinking (abstract), problem

solving, information processing, physical functions, and psychological behaviors. Does not

include brain injuries that are degenerative or congenital, or brain injuries induces by birth

trauma.

Characteristics

When it comes to the characteristics of Traumatic Brain injury they fall into different

categories. Those categories include, but are not limited to cognitive, behavioral, mood, whole

body, eyes, speech, and visual. For cognitive a few characteristics are amnesia, inability to speak

or understand language, mental confusion, and difficulty concentrating. For behavioral a few

characteristics are aggression, irritability, lack of restraint, impulsivity, and abnormal laughing

and crying. For mood some characteristics are anger, loneliness, and anxiety. When it comes to

whole body they can black out, faint, and become dizzy. They can have trouble speaking and

have blurred vision.

Causes

Some of the common causes of a closed head injury include falls, motor vehicle crashes,

sports injury, being struck by an object, and child abuse. Some of the common causes of a

penetrating injury include being hit by a bullet, being hit by a weapon, injury to head that causes

a bone fragment to penetrate the skull