Traumatic Brain Injury
Traumatic Brain Injury is 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.
Organizational Resources
The Brain Trauma Foundation
http://www.braintrauma.org
The Brain Trauma Foundation (BTF)is dedicated to improving the outcome of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) patients worldwide by developing best practices guidelines, conducting clinical research, and educating medical professionals and consumers.
Their efforts also focus on public education aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of the symptoms of a concussion. Their goal is to better educate coaches, nurses, athletes, parents and all citizens about the importance of recognizing concussions and taking the appropriate steps to ensure people receive appropriate care. They also educate healthcare professionals on the immediate care for coma patients.
http://www.traumaticbraininjury.com
This site helps educate and support those that are survivors of traumatic brain injury or those that care for them. It provides information on coping skills, medical breakthroughs, research, and treatment.
http://www.braintrauma.org
The Brain Trauma Foundation (BTF)is dedicated to improving the outcome of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) patients worldwide by developing best practices guidelines, conducting clinical research, and educating medical professionals and consumers.
Their efforts also focus on public education aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of the symptoms of a concussion. Their goal is to better educate coaches, nurses, athletes, parents and all citizens about the importance of recognizing concussions and taking the appropriate steps to ensure people receive appropriate care. They also educate healthcare professionals on the immediate care for coma patients.
http://www.traumaticbraininjury.com
This site helps educate and support those that are survivors of traumatic brain injury or those that care for them. It provides information on coping skills, medical breakthroughs, research, and treatment.
Documents
Strategies
Strategy 1: Mental Imagery: Improving Text Recall
Steps to Implementing This Intervention
Step 1: Tell students that they can remember more of what they read by
making pictures in their mind of what they are reading
carefully studying pictures or illustrations that appear in their reading or text books
Step 2: Using a "think-aloud" approach, read through a short sample narrative or expository passage. Pause at several points to tell the class what "mental pictures" come to your mind as you read; ask students to describe their own mental imagery as they react to the same passage. As you come across pictures or illustrations in the passage, study them and reflect aloud on what clues they give you about the passage's meaning.
Step 3: Read aloud from additional passages. Stop at key points in the passage and call on students to relate their mental imagery evoked by the passage or to give their interpretation of the significance of illustrations or pictures.
Step 4: When students are able to use mental imagery independently, use a prompt at the start of reading assignments to cue them to use the strategy. You might say, for example, "Now we are going to read about what life is like in a country village in Zimbabwe. Remember to make pictures in your head about what you are reading and study the pictures carefully."
Strategy 2: Prior Knowledge: Activating the 'Known‘
Step 1: Introduce this strategy to the class:
Wright, J.M.S. (2009) Mental Imagery-Improving Text Recall. Retrieved 24 July 11 from: http://www.interventioncentral.org/index.php/reading-comp/105-mental-imagery-improving-text-recall
Wright, J.M.S. (2009) Prior Knowledge-Activating the “known”. Retrieved 24 July 11 from: http://www.interventioncentral.org/index.php/reading-comp/107- prior-knowledge-activating-the-known
- By constructing "mental pictures" of what they are reading and closely studying text illustrations, students increase their reading comprehension.
- Reserve at least a full instructional session to introduce this comprehension strategy
- Overhead transparencies of sample passages taken from expository or narrative texts, transparency markers
- Student copies of practice expository or narrative passages (optional) or reading/text books
- Prepare overheads of sample expository or narrative passages.
Steps to Implementing This Intervention
Step 1: Tell students that they can remember more of what they read by
making pictures in their mind of what they are reading
carefully studying pictures or illustrations that appear in their reading or text books
Step 2: Using a "think-aloud" approach, read through a short sample narrative or expository passage. Pause at several points to tell the class what "mental pictures" come to your mind as you read; ask students to describe their own mental imagery as they react to the same passage. As you come across pictures or illustrations in the passage, study them and reflect aloud on what clues they give you about the passage's meaning.
Step 3: Read aloud from additional passages. Stop at key points in the passage and call on students to relate their mental imagery evoked by the passage or to give their interpretation of the significance of illustrations or pictures.
Step 4: When students are able to use mental imagery independently, use a prompt at the start of reading assignments to cue them to use the strategy. You might say, for example, "Now we are going to read about what life is like in a country village in Zimbabwe. Remember to make pictures in your head about what you are reading and study the pictures carefully."
Strategy 2: Prior Knowledge: Activating the 'Known‘
- Through a series of guided questions, the instructor helps students activate their prior knowledge of a specific topic to help them comprehend the content of a story or article on the same topic. Linking new facts to prior knowledge increases a student's inferential comprehension (ability to place novel information in a meaningful context by comparing it to already-learned information).
- Reserve at least a full instructional session to introduce this comprehension strategy.
Step 1: Introduce this strategy to the class:
- Explain the Benefit of Using Prior Knowledge to Understand a Reading Passage: Tell students that recalling their prior experiences ("their own life") can help them to understand the content of their reading. New facts make sense only when we connect them to what we already know.
- Demonstrate the Text Prediction Strategy. Select a sample passage and use a "think-aloud" approach to show students how to use the text-prediction strategy.
Wright, J.M.S. (2009) Mental Imagery-Improving Text Recall. Retrieved 24 July 11 from: http://www.interventioncentral.org/index.php/reading-comp/105-mental-imagery-improving-text-recall
Wright, J.M.S. (2009) Prior Knowledge-Activating the “known”. Retrieved 24 July 11 from: http://www.interventioncentral.org/index.php/reading-comp/107- prior-knowledge-activating-the-known