PRAXIS: BRAIN INJURY (TBI + CP)

What is a TBI?

damage to the brain caused by physical force

focal: one area of brain

diffuse: multiple areas of brain

often caused by MVA, sport accidents, DV, and GSW

immediate effects of TBI

loss of conscience, memory loss, abnormal behavior like aggression, anxiety, lethargy, can also have physical symptoms like tremors, ataxia, apraxia, etc.

cognitive and language issues in TBI

difficulty with comprehension

word retrieval issues

limited syntax

reduced processing speed

poor academic performance

pragmatic problems like turn taking and topic maintenance

difficulty with focusing, reasoning, organization, and memory

easily frustrated

What is cerebral palsy?

disorder of early childhood where immature nervous system is affected resulting in muscular incoordination and associated problems.

Not a disease, but a group of symptoms associated with brain injuries in kids

problems associated with CP

ortho abnormalities, feeding difficulties, seizures, hearing loss, IDs

but not all kids with CP have these problems

What causes CP?

Prenatal brain injury (rubella, mumps, accidents, etc.)

Perinatal brain injury (difficulty in birth process like prolonged labor or breech)

Postnatal brain injury (anoxia, accidents, infections, and diseases

Paralysis types in CP

Hemiplegia: one side of body is paralyzed

paraplegia: only legs/lower trunk are paralyzed

monoplegia: only one limb or part of is paralyzed

diplegia: two legs or two arms are paralyzed

quadriplegia: all limbs are paralyzed

Ataxic CP

cerebellar damage causes issues with balance, gait, and uncontrolled movements

Athetoid CP

damage to indirect motor pathways, mostly BG, cause slow, writhing, involuntary movements

Spastic CP

damage to motor cortex or direct motor pathways causes increased spasticity (increased tone and rigidity of muscles) and stiff, abrupt, jerky, slow movements

Language development with CP

every case is different! Some kids have no language problems but some have serious language issues

treatment for CP

multidisciplinary team and possibly AAC (can also be iPhone apps)