Abstract
Children and youth who suffer a traumatic brain injury are surviving their injuries due to more sophisticated medical care. However, these injuries result in varying degrees of cognitive, linguistic, behavioral, emotional, and physical difficulties which can interfere with academic progress and social functioning. Educators often do not have the information needed to adequately work with these students. These professionals often depend on speech-language pathologists to provide assessment and intervention services to these students. This study explored speech-language pathologists’ training and perceived readiness/preparedness to provide services to children with traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) via survey methodology. Participants included both school-based and medically-based speech-language pathologists. Results revealed a perceived lack of training in this area as well as feelings of inadequacy to treat this population regardless of employment setting.
Introduction
It is estimated that as many as a million children and adolescents sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI) each year resulting in varying degrees of cognitive, linguistic, behavioral, emotional, and physical difficulties (Deidrick & Farmer, 2005; Farmer & Peterson, 1995; Kraus, Fife, & Cox, 1986; Russel, 1993; Savage, 1991; Semrud-Clikeman, 2001; Tepas, DiScala, Ramenofsky, & Barlow, 1990) which can interfere with academic progress and social functioning (Donders, 1994; Donders & Warschausky, 2007; Farmers & Peterson, 1995; Jaffe et al., 1993; Kinsella et al., 1995; Vu, Babikian, & Asarnow, 2011). In fact, TBI is one of the more common causes of disability for children aged 5 to 14 (Anderson, Catroppa, Morse, Haritou, & Rosenfeld, 2001). However, advances in technology have resulted in faster and more sophisticated medical care (Carney & Gerring, 1990) with over 90% of children with TBI now surviving because of improved medical management (Begali, 1992). Michaud, Rivara, and Grady (1992) estimate that 95% of all children and adolescents with TBI can be expected to live, and 65% of those with more severe injuries survive the insult to the brain.