I am pleased to be with all of you today to talk about repetitive brain trauma and the implication for current SLP practice. I know this topic has been in the media a lot lately. Ever since chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and repetitive brain trauma has been discussed the media has exploded. There’s been many headlines and recently we’ve seen a lot of football players who’ve been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy. I’m sure this has made many of us in this field wonder if we have patients who are diagnosed with this disease. Today we’re going to review what CTE is and what the effects of repetitive brain trauma are. How is it different from traumatic brain injury and other neurodegenerative disorders, and how do we assess and treat it?
Disclosures
Just so everyone is aware, I am a paid employee of Case Western Reserve University, I’m also a paid employee of Villa Camillus Nursing Facility, and I am receiving an honorarium for this presentation from SpeechPathology.com.
Learning Objectives
Our learner objectives for this presentation are that you will be able to define chronic traumatic encephalopathy and describe associated cognitive communication characteristics. You’ll be able to describe the cognitive communication and neurophysiological differences between chronic traumatic encephalopathy and traumatic brain injury, and other neurodegenerative diseases. Finally, you’ll be able to identify assessment and treatment protocols to address cognitive communication deficits associated with probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy.