Fatigue, Fogginess, and Sleep Complaints: Presence and Impact on Functioning After Childhood Traumatic Brain Injury.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the occurrence and impact of fatigue, fogginess, and sleep complaints on functioning at 3, 6, 10, and 16 months after childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Method: Eighty-eight caregivers completed online surveys regarding their children with TBI, with 17 participants included at the final time point. Measures included questions related to demographic and injury characteristics, executive functioning, social relations, health-related quality of life, and fatigue, fogginess, and sleep complaints.

Factors impacting educational outcomes for students with traumatic brain injury in BrainSTEPS.

To describe child pre-injury and injury factors impacting post-injury educational outcomes for students with traumatic brain injury (TBI) participating in a state-wide, school-based, school re-entry consultation program, BrainSTEPS in Pennsylvania. Retrospective analysis of a BrainSTEPS annual follow-up survey. A total of 296 parent surveys were completed.

Factors that Influence Follow-Up Care for Families of Children with Acquired Brain Injury: A Scoping Review.

Purpose: To describe factors that contribute to medical/rehabilitation service access following pediatric acquired brain injury (ABI) and identify gaps in the literature to guide future research.

Materials & Methods: The PRISMA framework for scoping reviews guided this process. Peer-reviewed journal databases were searched for articles published between 1/2008 and 12/2020, identifying 400 unique articles.

Gaps in concussion management across school-aged children.

Objective: Examine how demographic and injury factors impact identification and management of concussion in students.

Methods: Prospective observational cohort. Pre-K - 12th grade students within a large, urban school district reported to school with concussion during 2015-2019.

Preliminary findings on TBI knowledge of professionals working with justice-involved youth.

Professionals working with justice-involved youth (JIYs) play a critical role in identifying and providing supports and services related to traumatic brain injury (TBI). The aim of this study was to better understand the knowledge of TBI of professionals working with JIYs, a research priority identified by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Fifty employees of an urban juvenile court system completed an online survey about their TBI knowledge.

Supporting Students with TBI: A Clinically Focused Tutorial for Speech-Language Pathologists.

Attention to pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) has grown in recent years, likely due to the increased awareness of mild TBI (mTBI) in contact sports. With this increased attention, along with an increased diagnosis of injury, more students with TBI need services, especially as they return to the classroom environment and progress through school. Support of students with TBI of all severities requires an interdisciplinary team with the school-based speech-language pathologist playing a critical role.

The Speech-Language Pathologists' Role in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury for Early Childhood-, Preschool-, and Elementary School-Age Children: Viewpoints on Guidelines From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Purpose Traumatic brain injury (TBI) impacts millions of children each year, with those between birth and 4 years of age being 1 of the highest incidence groups. To address gaps in service provision specifically for children with mild TBI (mTBI), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released guidelines for providers. Method The goal of this commentary is to deliver viewpoints on the application of the CDC guidelines directly to speech-language pathology clinical practice, with special attention paid to assessment, symptom monitoring, and intervention using a family-centered approach to care for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and early elementary students with mTBI.

Putting the person in person-centered care: Stakeholder experiences in pediatric traumatic brain injury.

Purpose: This pilot study sought to describe the perspectives and experiences of survivors of pediatric traumatic brain injury (pTBI), their caregivers, and the medical professionals who serve them.

Methods: Thirteen people participated in semi-structured interviews: five survivors of pTBI, their primary caregivers, and three medical professionals who work with persons who have sustained pTBI. The study involved a prospective, qualitative, participatory action research model with convenience sampling.

A clinically focused systematic review of social communication in pediatric TBI.

Background: Social communication is a persistent area of need after pediatric traumatic brain injury; however, it continues to be misunderstood, under-recognized, and under-treated. Clinicians must have a working understanding of current evidence and practice recommendations to support practice.

Objectives: 1) To analyze recent evidence in social communication published in the last ten years, which is specific to pediatric TBI and 2) To translate these findings for clinicians.

Referral Patterns as a Contextual Variable in Pediatric Brain Injury: A Retrospective Analysis.

Purpose: Access to speech-language pathology (SLP) services is a critical variable in the rehabilitation of pediatric brain injury. In this study, we examined patterns of SLP referral and factors affecting referral during the acute period following brain injury in 2 large pediatric specialty hospitals.

Method: In a retrospective, cohort chart review study, data collection focused on referrals made during the acute period using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes for primary diagnoses of brain injury between 2007 and 2014 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014).

Identification of neurodevelopmental disabilities in underserved children using telehealth (INvesT): Clinical trial study design.

Background: Children living in poverty are at high risk for delays in development of language and behavior and they experience a discrepancy in diagnosis and access to intervention services. This gap is partially caused by barriers in access as well as traits that are specific to each child and family. The Identification of Neurodevelopmental Disabilities in Underserved Children using Telehealth (INvesT) trial is a novel intervention approach that was specifically designed to address these barriers.

Role of contextual factors in the rehabilitation of adolescent survivors of traumatic brain injury: emerging concepts identified through modified narrative review.

Background: Recently research in traumatic brain injury (TBI) intervention has identified the benefits of contextualized, embedded, functionally based approaches to maximize treatment outcomes. An essential component of contextualized intervention is the direct and purposeful consideration of the broader context, in which the person with TBI functions. However, systematic consideration of contextual factors remains limited both in research and clinical practice.

fMRI reveals reciprocal inhibition between social and physical cognitive domains.

Two lines of evidence indicate that there exists a reciprocal inhibitory relationship between opposed brain networks. First, most attention-demanding cognitive tasks activate a stereotypical set of brain areas, known as the task-positive network and simultaneously deactivate a different set of brain regions, commonly referred to as the task negative or default mode network. Second, functional connectivity analyses show that these same opposed networks are anti-correlated in the resting state.

Improving the access of young urban children to speech, language and hearing screening via telehealth.

We studied the feasibility of low-cost videoconferencing (using Skype) in urban community health clinics for speech, language and hearing screening of children up to six years of age. During a two-year study, screening services were provided via videoconferencing at two community clinics in an inner city area of Cleveland, Ohio. In total, 411 screenings were completed.

Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Developments: Implications for Clinical Assessment in Traumatic Brain Injury.

Adolescence is a time of significant physical, social, and emotional developments, accompanied by changes in cognitive and language skills. Underlying these are significant developments in brain structures and functions including changes in cortical and subcortical gray matter and white matter tracts. Among the brain regions that develop during adolescence are areas that are commonly damaged as a result of a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

The relation of lung volume initiation to selected acoustic properties of speech.

This study examined the relationship of speech breathing to other elements of speech production. It was hypothesized that initiating speech from different lung volumes would have an effect on different elements of the acoustic output. It was postulated that effects may be brought about by mechanical interaction as well as a dispersion of effort to mechanically unlinked elements of speech production, such as articulatory behavior.