An individual’s ability to learn and understand is an essential part of their everyday life. However, when the brain’s normal functioning is disrupted due to a traumatic brain injury, a person’s life changes significantly. Brain injuries affect a person in varying degrees depending on where the damage is sustained on the head and within the brain. One of the significant ways head trauma affects an injured person is by hindering cognitive brain function.
A study about cognition after TBIs concluded that about 65% of moderate to severe TBI patients reported long-term problems with cognitive function. Individuals who sustain head trauma resulting from an accident or injury that another person is responsible for may take legal action and pursue compensation through a California personal injury claim. At The Law Offices of JG Winter, our experienced team has helped thousands of injured people by skillfully representing them during the process of an injury claim.
Common Cognitive Problems After Sustaining Head Trauma
Cognitive impairment creates many challenges for individuals regardless of the circumstances or causes. After an accident, an injured person’s body requires mental, emotional, and physical care. Mentally, their state of mind may alter depending on the severity of an accident. When cognition is impaired, their ability to learn, understand, communicate, and perform daily tasks without struggle may be unattainable.
Cognitive abilities affected by a TBI might include:
- Memory retention and learning
- Processing and understanding
- Planning and organizing
- Socially accepted behavior
- Communicating thoughts and ideas
- Other skills and daily functions
Recovery periods may vary after an accident for anyone who is injured. Car accidents, slip-and-falls, sports injuries, and work injuries are many ways TBIs may occur. Some TBIs are milder and others severe. However, the lasting effects of head trauma may not be apparent right away. Many people learn of their cognitive deficits while trying to perform daily tasks at work, school, or at their homes. Among the most common signs and symptoms of TBI is the inability to retain and remember information, whether in short or long-term periods.
How Do TBIs Affect Learning and Memory?
The brain’s frontal lobe controls voluntary movements, language, and other higher-level functions and abilities. The hippocampus, located on the underside of the temporal lobes, is an organ responsible for supporting memory, learning, navigation, and perception in the brain. Depending on where head trauma occurs and the impact of a blow or traumatic event, any damage and injury to these brain regions can cause troubling effects for an individual.
The brain is responsible for an array of functions within the human body, and when it endures trauma, there is often irreparable damage. When neurons and brain matter are altered and injured, a person’s information-processing capacity diminishes. People of different ages have endured TBIs, but the hardships of lacking in learning and memory ability can cause a decrease in school performance, working ability, and social relationships.
Brain Injuries During Childhood
Factors such as age and overall health at the time of a TBI may also affect the cognitive ability and recovery outcomes following brain injuries. Sustaining injury in the head during childhood may result in a learning deficit within abilities to organize, plan and reason even years after the initial trauma. When children sustain head trauma on the frontal lobe in their younger years, brain injuries may limit their ability to learn and have proper cognitive skills even many years into adulthood.
Cognitive Training and Rehabilitation After Head Trauma
Recovery can look different for many TBI victims. It can take months or years of physical therapy, occupational therapy, medication, and other medical needs to help a person restore the best possible state of normal function. Depending on their head trauma’s severity and lasting effects, ample therapy and rehabilitation may be necessary.
Standard methods of therapy and cognitive training for TBI victims include:
- Speech and language therapy
- Short and long term memory exercises
- Attention exercises for TBI survivors
- According to an individual’s mental and psychological needs, other forms of professional cognition therapy follow a TBI.
Joining groups and seeking necessary therapy after a TBI can help the injured victim significantly improve concentration, learning, and other cognitive functions. However, this life-changing experience can lead many to necessary time away from work, loss of wages, and high medical and rehabilitation costs. You can rest assured that a skilled brain injury attorney will appropriately handle your injury claim and compensation recovery.
Call the Law Offices of JG Winter for Experienced Legal Representation After a TBI
Head trauma leads to many difficulties in a person’s cognition, learning ability, understanding, and memory. When TBIs occur, injured individuals need immediate medical attention and lengthy recoveries, depending on the accident’s severity. At The Law Offices of JG Winter, our Sacramento brain injury attorney knows the challenging effects of sustaining brain injuries.
If you have suffered a brain injury and are suffering varying difficulties following head trauma, our experienced attorney can represent you, help you file an injury claim, and seek the compensation that aids your recovery needs. You may fill out a contact form or call our Sacramento office at (844) 734-2626 to schedule a free consultation.
