Recovery and Outcome
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Recovery and Outcome from Acquired Brain Injury
Neurological Factors
The immediate and long-term consequences of moderate to severe TBI are influenced by a number of variables, including:
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Whether the injury caused diffuse or focal damage. Children with diffuse TBI may be more severely compromised.
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Severity of damage. The more severe the damage to the brain as measured by longer coma or post-traumatic amnesia, the more problems in cognitive and behavioral functioning are likely to appear later on.
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Location of damage. Children with more damage to frontal brain regions may experience changes in personality and behavior, yet maintain relatively intact the cognitive functions mediated by the posterior regions. Similarly, children with more damage to white matter may have more problems in information processing speed, complex attention and organization despite having normal language skills, academic skills and/or IQ.
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Extent of damage. More damage to one cerebral hemisphere may result in a greater variety of patterns of problems. For example, greater damage to the left hemisphere which supports the "building blocks" of language may cause a child to have difficulty learning to read, write and spell.