Traumatic Brain Injury - TBI

Excerpt from About.com: (click for entire article)

Traumatic Brain Injury can have a significant impact on classroom performance and may affect cognitive, social, physical and psychological functioning which can vary from being quite severe or to being quite mild depending on the amount of damage. TBI usually results from accidents or from a blow to the head. TBI isn't used for a person born with a brain injury or injured during birth. For the most part, every brain injury is different as the part of the brain involved in the injury may vary. Many children will have lifelong disabilities as a direct result of TBI.

IDEA's Definition of 'Traumatic Brain Injury'

Our nation's special education law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) defines traumatic brain injury as "an 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. The term applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem-solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psycho-social behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech. The term does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.” [34 Code of Federal Regulations §300.7(c)(12)]