We recently came across this article from a Wisconsin paper, and it’s worth a read:
Bari York looks the same – only a tiny scar on the right side of her forehead shows a glimpse of just how much she has truly changed.
“If you don’t see the scar or know what happened, you may not know right away,” said York, who was involved in a horrific car accident at the age of 15. It left her partially paralyzed and living with the effects of a severe traumatic brain injury. Everything she ever learned was wiped out in an instant.
After exhaustive rehabilitation, York, now 22, has mostly regained the physical use of her body, but all of the elements of her personality that made her Bari have vanished.
“You don’t physically see brain injury; you experience it,” said her mother, Lois York-Lewis. “The severity of the accident changed everything from Bari’s personality to how she relates to others. With each passing day, month and year, you begin to realize this is a whole new way of life.”
That new life was devoid of many of the friends York once had.
“That was the most challenging. My friends no longer understood me,” said York, who recently graduated from Carroll University with a degree in public relations and marketing. “While I was in the hospital recuperating, their lives went on.”
The sometimes alienating world of traumatic brain injury prompted the mother and daughter, of Muskego, to create the Brain Injury Resource Center of Wisconsin nearly a year ago.
From the group’s site:
Medical Documentation of Traumatic Brain Injury (before returning to school)
Before returning to school, it is advisable to establish traumatic brain injury through medical documentation via hospital records and/or from a doctor or clinician. Medical documentation simply confirms the presence of the traumatic brain injury. It does not and cannot automatically establish the impact of the traumatic brain injury. Confirming that an injury has occurred does not shed light upon the effect of the injury on later physical, educational, behavioral, emotional, and social outcome.
The survivor may require a Neuropsychological Evaluation prior to returning to school (and/or work as well). This evaluation is a method through which a Neuropsychologist can acquire data about a survivors cognitive, motor, behavioral, linguistic, and executive functioning
The neuropsychological evaluation is useful for measuring many function categories, including the following:
Intellectual functioning
Academic achievement
Language processing
Visuospatial processing
Attention/concentration
Verbal learning and memory
Visual learning and memory
Executive functions
Speed of processing
Sensory-perceptual functions
Motor speed and strength
Motivation/symptom validity
Personality assessment
Strategic Learning Strategies Developed for students with TBI
Education is more than just book learning, it is developing the understanding of how a student with TBI learns best. Contact the Brain Injury Resource Center of Wisconsin to inquire about and/or schedule the presentation by Kary Mirasola, MS, CCC-SLP and Bari York, former college student and TBI survivor.
Abstract of talk: Understanding what TBI is and the impact of it on learning
Connection to Universal Design: Discuss how these strategies are necessary for students with TBI but would be appropriate for all students
Structure of session: Bari will share her personal experience with TBI. Provide analogy of what it means to have TBI. Demonstrate examples and hands on use of the following strategies:
* Study Cards
* Content templates
* Higher Level Thinking and Language Skills
* Comprehension Monitoring Strategies
Their real-life experience offers a unique and personalized approach to their programs and services that enhances the quality of life of brain injury survivors and their families, said Angela Dentice, a family friend and longtime educator of special-needs students, including children with brain injuries.
The Brain Injury Answers Blog 