Brain injury can have visible and invisible signs. Coping with TBI can be difficult.

October 19, 2017, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

Brain injury is often called the hidden injury as it can be impossible to tell by looking at someone that they have a problem. A recent example in the news spoke directly to the challenges of living with a brain injury. The story focussed on a 9-year-old boy, who was hit by car at the age of 4. He suffered a TBI and was unconscious for days.

When he finally awoke his parents reported that he was a completely different child. The boy they knew was gone. They realized with horror that he would likely never recover to be the same bright JK student that he was. The boy sustained frontal lobe damage leaving him permanently injured. This began their road down a long list of diagnosis for their son, which include ADHD, ODD, and intermittent explosive disorder. He also suffers from impulse control problems and has memory issues.

One of the most difficult challenges is that when others look at him they don’t know to take into account that the child has serious brain injuries. Their expectations for behaviour and their tolerance to his demeanour is not appropriate. If he were visibly disabled in a wheel chair, or with crutches, or missing a limb then his disability would be obvious. As a hidden injury he suffers even more.

Now in school again, he has been shuffled through 5 schools in the public school board.  CBC reports that trouble began three weeks after he first went back to school. He runs away, and is disruptive. He was admitted to a behavioral needs program but that didn’t last long.

The parents then discovered a program designed for students with brain injury being run by a different school board. The parents rented an apartment in the district and were excited to have their son in a class with a teacher who had specialized training in brain injury education and where the kids have access to additional supports like behaviourists and neuropsychologists. Sadly, after two years of attending, the program was discontinued.

His doctors are having trouble finding and balancing the boy’s medication needs and this past summer he was making serious threats of harm to himself and to others. His parents are finding it extremely difficult to find help for the boy, as the agencies they have contacted don’t seem to be a good fit for him (they deal with older kids, they deal with different disabilities, the family lives out of the drawing areas etc).

The real problem for this family, and for the many others who have children with brain injuries is a lack of funding and support programs.  Their son, after being waitlisted for over a year, is now attending a special program for children with mental health issues which is a step in the right direction, but it lacks the ability to address his brain injury issues.

You can read the whole story here.

About Deutschmann Law

Deutschmann Law serves South-Western Ontario with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock, Brantford, Stratford and Ayr. The law practice of Robert Deutschmann focuses almost exclusively in personal injury and disability insurance matters. For more information, please visit www.deutschmannlaw.com or call us at 1-519-742-7774.

It is important that you review your accident benefit file with one of our experienced personal injury / car accident lawyers to ensure that you obtain access to all your benefits which include, but are limited to, things like physiotherapy, income replacement benefits, vocational retraining and home modifications.