This course will address the following objectives as well as the ASHA Certification Standards III-E, (Prevention, Assessment, and Differences) IV-E.1 (Evaluation), and IV-E.2 (Intervention):

• To understand the neurophysiological consequences of traumas to the head with regard to translational and rotational acceleration, cavitation effects, shearing strain, cerebral swelling and edema, hematomas, and increased intracranial pressure.
• To be familiar with pertinent etiological, cultural, psychosocial, and neurological factors associated with traumatic brain injury.
• To be familiar with the characteristics of cognitive-communication disorders resulting from traumatic brain injury and to understand the similarities and differences between cognitive-communication disorders and other developmental or acquired speech, language, or learning difficulties.
• To be familiar with the principles and procedures used in the diagnosis and treatment of communication disorders resulting from traumatic brain injury and to be aware of the impact of changes in intellectual, psychosocial, and behavioral functioning on communicative competence and performance.
• To understand the short- and long-term psychosocial and socioemotional issues that arise for survivors of traumatic brain injury and their families.

1. Completion of three scheduled examinations based on assigned readings and lecture material. Each exam will count for 25% of the final class grade.

2. Students will work in pairs. Each pair of students will be responsible for (a) writing abstracts of two research articles about interventions typically provided by SLPs for survivors of TBI and (b) leading a class discussion about the information presented in each article. All other students must read the selected articles and be prepared to discuss them in class. All selected articles must describe intervention strategies, not just compare performance of people with and without TBI!! A list of article choices is provided below. Other articles are also acceptable but must be approved by the instructor. Both the written abstracts and oral summaries must include sufficient detail to make the research understandable to someone unfamiliar with the manuscript! Oral presentation and discussion of the research findings will last approximately 15 minutes for each article and will occur during class periods devoted to that topic. Each student is responsible for signing up for a presentation time for each abstract that corresponds to the topic(s) being discussed in class. Students are responsible for making typed, double-spaced copies of the written abstracts (with a complete, APA-style research citation) available for retrieval through Blackboard by all class members. Grading will be based on overall writing quality, adherence to APA style (5th Edition) for the reference citation, and clarity of explanation of the research findings. Each abstract and oral presentation will count for 12.5% of the final class grade.

Feb. 3rd

Borer-Alfafi, N., Gil, M., Sazbon, L., & Korn, C. (2002). Lowenstein communication
scale for the minimally responsive patient. Brain Injury, 16 , 593-609.

Cooper, J. B., Jane, J. A., Alves, W. M., & Cooper, E. B. (1999). Right median nerve electrical stimulation to hasten awakening from coma. Brain Injury, 13 , 261-267.

Peri, C. V., Shaffrey, M. E., Farace, E., Cooper, E., Alves, W. M., Cooper, J. B., Young, J. S, & Jane, J. A. (2001). Pilot study of electrical stimulation on median nerve in comatose severe brain injured patients: 3-month outcome. Brain Injury, 15 , 903-910.

Canedo, A., Grix, M. C., & Nicoletti, J. (2002). An analysis of assessment instruments for the minimally responsive patient (MRP): Clinical observations. Brain Injury, 16, 453-461.

Jones, R., Hux, K., Morton-Anderson, A., & Knepper, L. (1994). Auditory stimulation effect on a comatose survivor of traumatic brain injury. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 75 , 164-171.

Wilson, S. L., Powell, G. E., Brock, D., & Thwaites, H. (1996). Vegetative state and responses to sensory stimulation: An analysis of 24 cases. Brain Injury, 10 , 807-818.

Schlund, M. W., & Pace, G. (1999). Relations between traumatic brain injury and the environment: Feedback reduces maladaptive behaviour exhibited by three persons with traumatic brain injury. Brain Injury, 13 , 889-897.

April 6th and April 13th

Manasse, N. J., Hux, K., & Rankin-Erickson, J. L. (2000). Speech recognition training for enhancing the written language generation of a traumatic brain injury survivor. Brain Injury, 14 , 1015-1034.

Manasse, N. J., Hux, K., & Snell, J. (under review).

Wilson, B. A., Baddeley, A., & Evans, J. (1994). Errorless learning in the rehabilitation of memory impaired people. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 4 , 307-326.

Cicerone, K. D. (2002). Remediation of "working attention" in mild traumatic brain injury. Brain Injury, 16 , 185-195.

Kim, H. J. Burke, D., Dowd, M. M., & George, J. (1999). Utility of a microcomputer as an external memory aid for a memory-impaired head injury patient during in-patient rehabilitation. Brain Injury, 13 , 147-150.