Pediatric traumatic brain injury: rehabilitation and transition to home and school

The purpose of this review is to provide a summary of the empirical research on rehabilitation in pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI). Studies of the effectiveness of interventions with children with TBI are hampered by difficulty with combining subjects with various levels of TBI, problems with random assignment to treatment groups, and varying age levels at injury. While these are areas of concern, there are emerging studies that indicate both applied behavioral analysis (ABA) and positive behavioral interventions are helpful to many children. For some children, ABA is not successful, and a shift to positive behavioral interventions has been found to be helpful. Transitions to home and school can be difficult particularly if there are family issues that predated the injury. This review provides additional information for the pediatric neuropsychologist to assist with transition to school and home. Studies utilizing the Internet for family interventions have revealed promising results. This review suggests that additional studies as to the efficacy of interventions following TBI are needed particularly to evaluate outcomes after initial recovery and at follow-up. In addition, this review suggests that an important role for pediatric neuropsychologists is to provide support for schools and families through therapy and inservices for school personnel on TBI.