Childhood Traumatic Brain Injury

Daniel Buckfire

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Children with traumatic brain injuries face some of the most difficult challenges a parent or teacher is likely to encounter. Unfortunately, thousands of children suffer traumatic brain injuries each year. The most common causes of traumatic brain injuries among children include car accidents, sport- and play-related injuries, fights or assaults, and falls. If a child’s traumatic brain injury is caused intentionally or through the negligence of another person, the parent can normally file a lawsuit to get compensation for the damages the child has suffered.

In the educational context, childhood traumatic brain injury has been defined by regulations promulgated pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This law aims at providing equal access to education for children with disabilities. The regulations, codified at 34 C.F.R. § 300.8(c)(12) define “traumatic brain injury” as follows:

Traumatic brain injury means 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. Traumatic brain injury 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; psychosocial behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech. Traumatic brain injury does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.