Acquired brain injury

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Brain injuries can happen to anyone at any time. An acquired brain injury is an injury to the brain that has happened since birth. External forces or internal disorders cause them.

External forces may include road traffic accidents, torture, other violent trauma which involves severe shaking or hitting of the head, conflict and fighting. There is a high incidence of acquired brain injury in young men between ages 17-24, caused by road traffic accidents and fighting.

Internal or non-traumatic brain injuries include those caused by strokes, brain tumours, infectious diseases and the effects of toxic substances that have entered the body, either ingested through the mouth or inhaled, such as carbon monoxide or other chemicals, including chemical weapons.

Impact on learning

The impact of brain injury on learning can depend on the severity of the injury and where the brain has been injured. Different parts of the brain control different bodily, memory and personality aspects of individuals; learners with brain injuries will be affected differently.

Learners with acquired brain injury may experience memory loss, which could be very unpredictable as the learner may remember some of their previous learning very clearly and have loss in other areas. Their knowledge and skills will require careful assessment, as these learners are very likely to have a spiky profile.

Some individuals with acquired brain injuries experience a loss of coordination and motor control. Frequently people with brain injury will experience crosslateral physical impairments. For example, damage to the right hemisphere of the brain can result in physical difficulties on the left side of the body, face and limbs.

Again, depending on which part of the brain has been injured individuals may experience sensory loss including to their vision, hearing, taste, smell and sense of touch. Many brain injuries impact on the physical ability to speak as well as conditions associated with memory and recall of words - asphasia. Similarly, injury to specific parts of the brain can lead to specific difficulties (including acquired dyslexia) which may take very different forms depending on the nature of the injury.

Learners with brain injury may experience pain and fatigue as well as acquire other conditions such as epilepsy. Medication prescribed to treat any of the effects of acquired brain injury can also affect the learners learning (see Learners with long-term health conditions).

Other impacts on learning could be changes in the way the individual normally behaves or reacts to situations around them. Individuals with brain injury may experience mental health difficulties either brought about directly by the injury or by depression because of the injury.

Strategies to enhance learning

• Identify with the learner where they might experience difficulties with their learning.
• Work in collaboration with any recovery programmes initiated by health professionals.
• Consider the strategies, including over-learning, mentioned in the Learners with memory difficulties' section (below).
• Consider the strategies mentioned in the sections on Learners with physical impairments, Learners who are deaf or hearing impaired and Learners who are blind or visually impaired These may include techniques to stimulate sensory awareness by using smells in cooking or food activities, colours in writing and reading activities and different sounds and tones in speaking and listening work
• Consider the strategies mentioned in the Learners with mental health difficulties section.
• Consider the use of multimedia as a support and as a way of access to learning.
• When brain injury leads to acquired dyslexia it is particularly important that compensatory strategies are developed based on the learner's strengths rather than attempts made to 'remediate' acquired weaknesses.

We suggest you search the web for specific conditions as there are a number of support groups. Useful web address: www.dh.gov.uk (search for 'long-time conditions NSF').