Kenneth Goldblatt | October 20, 2018 | Personal Injury
Traumatic Brain Injury lawyer in New York, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Westchester, Goldblatt and Associates, would like to sharethis interesting brain injury health care article with you.
The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) has created a free resource for servicemembers and veterans who haveongoing traumatic brain injury symptoms and plan to go back to school.“Back to School: Guide to Academic Success After Traumatic Brain Injury” is a teaching tool to help patients build a list ofhelpful contacts, track their progress, and create a detailed schedule to manage their time.
“This information is appropriate for anyone starting or returning to higher education,” said Dr. Kristen Maisano, an occupational therapist at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital’s Intrepid Pavilion who assisted DVBIC in creating the guide. “It contains step-by-step instructions, resources, tips, and explanations of common processes related to school. A person does not need to be in the military or have illnesses or injuries to benefit from this guide.”
According to Maisano, whether it is college, university, or vocational school, this online resource can assist in the following:
- Learning in a new environment (classrooms instead of training fields)
- Cognitive and emotional impairments that interfere with learning
- Lack of study skills, time management strategies, and organization skill secondary to illness or injury
- Strategies to overcome issues facing servicemembers returning to school
Since 2000, more than 280,000 servicemembers have sustained a TBI in the course of their service, according to DVBIC. In the majority of cases, they said, servicemembers who sustain concussions recover fully and quickly. For a small portion of servicemembers, however, symptoms from a concussion can linger for months or longer, creating challenges in memory and thinking, lack of study skills, time management strategies, and difficulty processing sensory input, among others.
“Can you imagine being in school and trying to concentrate with a persistent headache?” said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Cathleen Shields, from DVBIC. “It’s beyond just being a returning vet or adult student; it’s being an adult student with TBI. We need to set them up for success.”
After recognizing needs and gaps in the system for TBI patients who wanted to go to institutes of higher education, DVBIC initially developed the guide as a brochure in December 2012 to get the information out to patients. “We wanted to do it, but knew we had to do it right,” Shields said.
A panel of experts — to include therapists, neuropsychologists, TBI patients, among others — worked to develop a guide that would empower servicemembers, while making it as universal and comprehensive as possible.
“Having a resource like this available may decrease anxiety and encourage servicemembers and veterans to return to school,” Maisano said. “This will increase purpose, meaning, and quality of life.”
“Back to School: Guide to Academic Success After Traumatic Brain Injury” can be downloaded at www.dvbic.org/material/back-school-guide.
Traumatic brain injury can have long lasting consequences for the victim in extensive medical bills and post treatment. To learn more about Traumatic Brain Injury, contact the New York brain injury lawyers at Goldblatt and Associates to schedule a free consultation. We serve accident victims in New York including New York City, Bronx, Brooklyn, Westchester and Putnam Counties, Albany, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo. We offer a free consultation, and receive no fee unless we are successful. Call 1-800-567-9888 today.