Lack of Brain Injury Awareness in Schools - Fact Sheet
Acquired brain injury is often called the invisible disability and this is particularly the case in the education system.
The difficulty recognising problems associated with acquired brain injury is that they are not always visible. Symptoms such as moodiness, forgetfulness, lethargy, aggression and inappropriate behaviour can easily be dismissed as a sign of puberty or poor attitude, rather than a sign that the brain has been injured. The task of diagnosis is made more difficult when we consider that the person with a brain injury may not attribute his/her difficulties to the injury. The complications and difficulties that arise are varied and may range from hidden cognitive disabilities, such as short-term memory loss, loss of planning and organisational skills, through to physical disabilities such as fatigue, paralysis, hearing and sight loss. Whatever the nature of the eventual disabilities, the life of the person changes – so do the lives of those close to the person.
Brain Injury Overlooked In Schools
Policy makers in government expect models of support suitable for other people with a disability to be suitable for people with acquired brain injury. This is problematic, as the support needs and welfare of children with acquired brain injury remain unaddressed and often hidden from service providers and policy-makers.
There are three main reasons that children with brain injuries are being overlooked in the school systems. Most educational systems do not have:
There are three main reasons that children with brain injuries are being overlooked in the school systems. Most educational systems do not have:
- A specific assessment category for children with acquired brain injury
- Interdisciplinary integrating policies
- Professional expertise in acquired brain injury in school support units.
No Specific Assessment Category for Brain Injury
The majority of State education systems have no specific category for ‘acquired brain injury’ although they do for other types of disabilities. Children with brain injuries in schools often have complex and pervading difficulties for many years following their injury. A system of Statewide ascertainment is used in Queensland schools to allocate expert resources to children with:
- Intellectual impairment
- Speech and language impairment
- Hearing impairment
- Vision impairment
- Autistic spectrum disorder
- Physical impairment.
Many parents, teachers, therapists, and students, believe that a number of children do not have their needs met adequately in their school, since there is no ascertainment category specifically for brain injury, and therefore:
- Some children with brain injury fall across a number of criteria but only have low needs on each criteria
- Some cannot be ascertained at all because the untreated dysfunctions cause them to have major behavioural problems in school
- There is no recognised, centralised body of experts in the education system
- Recognition of brain injury is necessary to improve resources, facilitate networking, develop management techniques and create classroom options and support systems
The main services in Brisbane providing rehabilitation for children with brain injury all report a distressing lack of support by the educational system for many children, most of whom have experienced severe head trauma. These services believe there are much larger numbers of children with milder head injuries who still have significant learning and behavioural issues. It is unlikely that many of these children will come to the attention of the services of the education system, certainly not without a proactive approach including education and awareness training of teaching staff.
Many young people who have not been linked with school based support services or allied health consultation services have reported that:
Many young people who have not been linked with school based support services or allied health consultation services have reported that:
- Their teachers have not understood them or their needs
- They have experienced bullying and discrimination
- Their resulting distress has been so great that they have wanted to leave school.
It would appear that those responsible for the education of our children are yet to be educated on the needs of this very special group.
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