Neuropsychological rehabilitation of children with traumatic brain injury

Abstract

Children traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are a major public health, medical, and societal challenge globally. In the European Union alone, children's hospital admission rate is estimated 110/100 000 per year. Due to the long-term character of the disabilities after TBI and their unstable nature (e.g., deterioration of previously achieved levels of outcome occurs in about 20% of patients), TBI has been considered a chronic condition influencing child's quality of life includes family system itself. To avoid a chronic consequences of disorders, early, long-term, continual, targeted and complex neurorehabilitation for children patients is highly required. Due to high function of brain neuroplasticity in childhood, a specific function stimulation in combination with metacognitive strategies is highly eligible. Age, community and environmental support in combination with cognitive rehabilitation intensity, duration and targeting are the key predictors of decent treatment response. For an effective interventions child neuropsychological examination is needed and it differs at various stages of the treatment. Also special school interventions and support for TBI's children are highly required to avoid academic failure or developing additional psychiatric symptomatology. Nowadays, cognitive rehabilitation is considered to be a rapidly developing field of study worldwide, also in the Czech Republic, where the comprehensive education and standards of cognitive rehabilitation are still missing.

Keywords

• cognitive rehabilitation
• traumatic brain injuries
• child and adolescent
• neuropsychological examination