Keeping organized is essential to recovery from brain injury.  Clutter overwhelms the brain and may cause “brain drain” or increase “brain fog”.   Changing life by teaching or learning organizational skills keeps these survivors improving and working on other essential skills. It’s hard to get past the basic points in life with your brain feeling cluttered.

Every injury is different.  Some individuals will need to learn these basic skills.  It takes time and patience to teach.  It also takes time and patience to learn.  So if you are the one teaching keep in mind the survivor is equally frustrated.

• Organization is essential
• Clutter overwhelms
• Every injury is different
• Time and patience to teach or learn

Organisation (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

If you are learning new skills dealing with brain injury it is a difficult task and a process.  You will get better.  No one knows better than those who have gone down this road.  Never give up!  Others understand and are supportive.

• Learning is a process
• Learning is difficult
• You get better
• Never give up
• Look for supportive people

This type of organization seems simplistic and it is.  It’s something most people learn as children.  For some it’s a re-learning process.  For others organization is a new concept.  For many disorganization doesn’t become a problem until after an injury.

• New process
• Re-learning process
• Disorganization problematic after TBI
• Organization of every faucet in life, becomes the only way of life after traumatic brain injury. You can compare it to those with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). There are many books and articles about traumatic brain injury, but try looking at those who have traveled this road in a different respect.

• • We can all learn things from the ADD groups.   I would suggest reading the book You Mean I’m Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?! by Kate Kelly and Peggy Ramundo to help with all areas of organization.  Also, I suggest visiting the on-line site addandsomuchmore.com.  For the higher level functioning TBI survivors another site I find helpful is brokenbrilliant.wordpress.com.

This is where TBI and ADD overlap.  We should be learning from the ways these individuals need to compensate throughout their lives.  The difference between traumatic brain injury and attention deficit disorder is that there is not the comparison of “before injury” and “after injury” personalities. Also, TBI affects every aspect of living, from the basic functions of breathing, personality changes, to extreme levels of fatigue. TBI affects the complete spirit.

• Comparison of TBI and ADD
• No “before” or “after” for TBI survivors
• No significant event for ADD survivors
• Similar compensation methods helpful
• Learn from ADD survivors

Cover via Amazon

Resources

• Book:  You Mean I’m Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?! by Kate Kelly and Peggy Ramundo
• Book:  Conquering Chronic Disorganization, Judith Kohlberg
• Book:  Making Peace with the Things in Your Life, Cindy Glovinsky
• On-Line:  addandsomuchmore.com
•               brokenbrilliant.wordpress.com
• • However, there was no significant event to pinpoint problems, the people with attention deficit may be dealing with struggles for years before receiving help.  They usually figure it out on their own.  This is similar to brain injury.
• On the other hand, this does happen with traumatic brain injury as well.  Many times injury is considered trivial and people forget the event.  Sometimes it’s the lack of education, understanding or just pure ignorance of others to help.  Life goes on, and many are left to struggle on their own.

• Disorganization and environmental clutter are things that make it difficult to move-on into one’s day.  Fatigue may occur quickly, and disorganization causes mental fatigue. Brain injury survivors may find it difficult to move past the clutter. Organization will help these survivors focus on areas that increase cognitive awareness and it decreases environmental stimuli.     

ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) Survivors

• No significant event
• Struggles for years
• Others don’t understand behaviors
• Teachers recognize
• Others minimize or dismiss problems
• Prevents proper diagnosis and help
• No “before” or “after”

 TBI-Traumatic Brain Injury Survivors

A100319_MAMC_TBI 1 (Photo credit: Joint Base Lewis McChord)

• Significant event
• Struggles for lifetime, with or without help
• Others don’t understand behaviors
• Teachers recognize
• Others minimize or dismiss problems
• Prevents proper diagnosis and help
• Comparison of “before injury” or “after injury” occurs

Few TBI patients receive proper rehabilitation.  Rehabilitation should be a life long process.  Recovery is possible with proper treatment.  When one develops complications resources should be available. Over the years the internet has evolved as place for resources.

Life changes, and problem solving is different in every phase of life.  Every aspect, every day, in every phase of life.  The control center of the entire body and mind are often damaged.  Survivors struggle to live with an unreliable control center.  In other words like an unreliable computer.

Broken control center 

• Every aspect
• Every day
• Every phase of life

It’s not about moving-on! Everyone wishes it were that easy.   it’s simply about being more flexible, more patience, more unpredictable moments, and adapting constantly and that’s a daily-life long struggle!  Survivors of TBI are commended for their strength!  It’s the hardest job in the world in any lifetime! The families are commended that learn by experience.

Many families and friends are stifled by other factors and misconceptions.  It’s important to stay with supportive people and leave the vindictive, rude, and ignorant behind.  It’s also the strength within a person that is supportive.  What a beautiful character asset these supportive people carry.   The strongest survive; support and injured together!

Many times TBI survivors feel they’re barely surviving. Survival is difficult for many because they don’t have proper assessment, diagnosis and treatment.  They are barely surviving! Others die because the lack of educated healthcare professionals in TBI,  proper diagnosis, and delay in help.

Hence, every day may be unpredictable with TBI. Others with TBI recover without difficulty.  We need to learn from all TBI survivors, what works and what doesn’t! When you have an unreliable computer you trade it in, purchase another and the problem is fixed. Most of the time!  That’s similar to the higher functioning brain injury survivors.

• What works?
• What doesn’t work?
• Adjustments?
• Re-adjustments?
• Adaptation?
• Re-adaptation?
• Over adjusted or Under adjusted?

Eventually they figure out what is working, what doesn’t work, adjustments, re-adjustments, adapting, and re-adapting … it’s all a process regardless of when, where or how the injury took place.  Either over adjusted or under adjusted!  Where’s the happy medium?  Also, the variables of every individual are  complex.  Still, there are all the things in between that fall within the cracks and keep their lives intermittently in turmoil.

Addendum:

Two other books highly recommended by ADD coaches are:

Conquering Chronic Disorganization, Judith Kohlberg

Conquering Chronic Disorganization, Judith Kohlberg
———————————————-
Kohlberg is well known for her work with disorganization. This is one of our favorites. A small book, it is loaded with ideas and a unique approach you won’t find anywhere else. It also has one of the most ADD-friendly formats we’ve seen.

Making Peace with the Things in Your Life, Cindy Glovinsky
———————————————-
This resource moves to the *REQUIRED* list beginning with the 2013 class.
Cindy effectively explores the challenge of Time/Space organization. She poses questions the ADD coach can use with clients to tease out their come-from regarding this Executive Functioning challenge and offers lots of great strategies.

Making Peace with the Things in Your Life, Cindy Glovinsky

Not her newest, we like this book primarily because it is a “systems” book, rather than a “tips and tricks” book. It encourages you to think of organizing in a manner that is very close to the way in which our ADD Coaches are taught to think about ADD Coaching.

What techniques have you found that work best for you?  What would you suggest most to those with traumatic brain injuries or their loved ones to help them achieve their optimal level of functioning?

Related articles

• S’pore, US researchers developing portable device for traumatic brain injury (todayonline.com)
• Definitely Not…TMI on TBI (nation.time.com)
• Brain Injury Prevention Poster Contest (northstarindependenthomeschoolers.com)
• VA Seeks to Expand List of Service-connected Traumatic Brain Injuries Effects (clarksvilleonline.com)
• Benefit Rules Eased for Veterans With Brain Injuries (nytimes.com)
• Brain Injury Can Cause Long Term Damage (medicaldaily.com)
• Less intelligent after TBI? Not even close. (brokenbrilliant.wordpress.com)
• Researchers find long-term consequences for those suffering traumatic brain injury (medicalxpress.com)
• Injury Accident Lawyers: Traumatic Brain Injury (injuryaccidentlawyers.wordpress.com)
• Devising Solutions for Traumatic Brain Injury: Interview with Dr. Michael Whalen, MD PhD (medgadget.com)