by Steven Mazzafield, Speech Language Pathologist at Veterans Memorial Hospital
In recognition of brain injury awareness month, I would like to talk about traumatic brain injury and the role of speech therapy in the recovery process. Many people don’t realize this, but speech-language pathologists are experts in treating brain disorders such as stroke, dementia, and traumatic brain injury. Brain injuries fall within one of two different categories: acquired or traumatic.
Acquired brain injury occurs when someone has a stroke, seizure, infection, tumor, or lack of oxygen that affects the brain. Traumatic brain injury (TBI), on the other hand, occurs after a sudden blow to the head - examples include from a car accident, sports injury, or fall.