Cause to impact

Cause to impact

The cause of the ABI makes a physical injury to the brain (in one or more parts of the brain) which in turn has an effect in areas such as cognition, communication and language, etc which can be seen through specific impairments (e.g. memory difficulty, difficulty with problem solving) and these in turn impact on the person's life ( self-care, relationships, work).

Each person with an ABI is different because:

• the exact nature of the injury to the brain is different from one person with an ABI to the next and
• this in turn means the general effects and specific impairments are different from one person with ABI to the next and
• this in turn means the impacts on life of the person with ABI are different from one person with ABI to the next.

Introduction

Common effects of Traumatic Brain Injury include:

• Cognitive
• Communication/language
• Physical/sensory
• Emotional/behavioural/personality

There is overlap and interconnections between these effects. The specific effects will be unique to each individual and their injury. The extent of the effects and challenges for the person with brain injury depends on:

• The severity of the TBI
• The location of the brain damage in TBI
• The length of time since brain injury
• The extent a person has been able to integrate back into the community
• The support available to the person.