Hello, It sounds as if your daughter is progressing well and she will continue to progress. I suffered a severe closed head injury that resulted in 2 months in a coma and a not so good prognosis. I went through all the conventional/ traditional treatments and rehabilitation but what helped me the most was a visit to Dr. Richard Neubauer to undergo a series of hyperbaric oxygen treatments. He is the father of HBOT(Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy) and neurologic injury. He is at the Ocean Hyperbaric Neurologic Center in Lauderdale by the sea, Florida. Remember that the brain is very plastic and the body has an amazing capacity to heal. The fact that she is young means that her healing will be even better. I am also in Georgia and I assume your daughter probably ended up at Shepherd as I did. I also spent time at Shepherd Pathways. Would love to talk to you as I am a strong believer in HBOT to assist in brain injury recovery. Dr. Dianne Peek

I do home school her so we can do it at her own pace. We only do one course at a time. This may change later, but it seems to work well for her right now. We've been very fortunate to find an accredited online homeschool program that works with us.


I'm glad to hear about others successes and hope she makes it to that point. At the moment, I'm just happy to get through the day.

Angel,

I just read up on the Georgia homeschool regulations. Georgia is a good place to homeschool compared to many other states. I am not sure what the value of finding an accredited homeschool program is. My three children all finished through high school in our homeschool.

My middle daughter is a Staff Sargent in the full time Army National Guard and became a homeowner at the young age of 23. Her private school teachers considered her learning disabled so we brought her and her siblings home during 2nd, 4th and 5th grade. She ended up graduating by California's high early graduation standards when she was only 16.

Your ability to customize the course work and learning environment will provide your daughter all of the opportunities she needs to succeed. Keep in mind that what she needs most is to learn how to learn. The information taught in school is not as important. As she discovers how her own brain intakes and processes information, she will equip herself for what ever she wants to pursue in the future.

For example, when my daughter was AIT (Advanced Individual Training) to become a surgical technician, she knew she needed to sit at the front of the class. This way she has less distractions within her range of view. She also has less auditory distractions. Distractions were a big issue for her. We found that we needed to cover illustrations in text books or find texts without illustrations because they would cause her to be distracted.

A good system for spelling and other written skills is to use a computer. This way, they develop muscle memory skills as they learn to spell. It also provided an opportunity for 'mom' to not be the bad guy when grading a spelling quiz. They would type out the words on the computer with spell check set to underline in red squigglies.

Before they hit the space bar, they would review the spelling of the word. If they thought they spelled the word correctly, they hit 'space.' Bingo, either red squigglies for a misspelling or no squigglies for a correct spelling. If the word was misspelled, they would try again. Once they got it right, they would type the word correctly 7 times or more to over-ride the memory of the misspelling.

A rule of thumb is this. It only takes three or less repetitions to create a bad habit. It takes seven or more correct actions to overcome the bad habit.

So, Angel, you go for it and don't worry. She will do fine.

I could give you gobs of statistics about how well homeschool students fare in the real world. If you have any homeschool questions, feel free to ask. My wife is the true expert. She dealt with 2 females as they matured and cycled through the hormones of teen girls. No matter how inadequate you may feel 'some' days, you will still be doing a great job with your daughter.

My best to you two.

Hi Diane,

My daughter's rancho score was too low for Shepherd to take her. She had to be at a 4 and she was 2. She went to Children's at Scottish Rite for their impatient rehab and then day rehab.

Ultimately, it was a blessing. One of her schoolmates and friends that had been accidently shot in the head about two weeks prior to her accident was there. Their injuries were quite different, but both had brain injuries. He could talk and was surprising mentally all there. If he has memory or cognitive deficiencies, you can't tell. However, he couldn't walk and had difficulties moving because of his brain injury. They became quite competitive about recovery. It was good motivation for them both.

Thank you for sharing the HBOT information with me. I have not read about it yet. I will look into it and speak with her physiatrist about it when we see him next month. I actually have a list of questions for him. I hope he's planning on spending some time with her this time around because my list isn’t' getting any shorter. Actually, he's always been awesome about answering all my questions. I hate that we have to find a new doctor when she turns 22.

If you don’t mind my asking, what is your doctorate is in?

Thanks!
Angel

Hi Mark,

That's very insightful about her being able to learn opposed to what she's learning. I've continually worked on finding study habits that are helpful to her. She's a very hand on kind of learner. That was true before her accident. It's just really hard when we're stuck in courses like history. I've tried museums and other fieldtrips like that. It helps some, but it's not like math or science where I can really show her. Concepts are easier for me to express. I have a BS in Chemistry, AS in Biotechnology, and a BS in Business Technology.

Honestly, she's the one obsessive with grades. I’d be happy to throw those out, but we can’t if she’s going to graduate from high school. I would be happy for her to take that history final so we could be done with it and move on, but she refuses at the moment. She has a 90 now, but the rules say she has to make at least a 70 to pass the class. It’s open book, 6 hours to take it, & probably only about 35 questions. She can so do it! She doesn’t want to use the book because she thinks it’s cheating, though her IEP completely allows for it. She's very stubborn about some things.

I may be taking you up on asking your wife questions.

Thanks!
Angel

Angel,

You need to remind her that most true valuable education is not about memorizing the answers but about learning how to find the answers. Our school systems have had it wrong since modern testing was designed back ion the 1940's by a man named Benjamin Bloom. He created Bloom's Taxonomy to create categories of achievement that can be measured to demonstrate the achievement of 'GET THIS,' not the student, but the teacher. Most standardized testing is to gauge the teaching system not the students ability to learn.

There are many different ways to learn. There was a book written back in the late 1980's called Teaching Tips and Techniques. It was sold by the Weaver Curriculum people. It is very good at helping you discover how your child learns. It helped my wife immensely with our middle child (B). She is a very hands on learner. The pros said she needed 'Multi-Sensory Learning', she needed to combine sight, sound, and touch to learn best. Your daughter may be the same.

When B was in Surg Tech school, she struggled with the classroom 'book' learning. When she got into the practical, she surged ahead, so much so that she was offered her pick of hospitals for her internship. She chose Trippler in Honolulu. She also excelled there. She was offered opportunities to scrub in to spinal/neuro surgeries, do suturing, and other tasks normally reserved for a much higher level of training and qualifications.

When B was preparing to deploy to Iraq, the Surg Techs in her unit were all retrained as Combat Medics. They were trained along side the Combat Medics who had taken a 28 week course previously. The Surg Techs only got a 21 day Combat Medic refresher course with the Combat Medics. She aced it and was selected to accompany the General when he went outside the wire.

This is all to say that when you hone in on your daughter's best methods of learning and she recognizes it too, she will do very well. Her perfectionism may be a hindrance for a while but over time, hopefully she will learn to lighten up on herself.

With the subjects like History, could she instead of studying to a test, write reports about the events? This may be more in her mode of understanding. The open book test is also not to be discounted. They are usually much more intense than a closed book test. Again, they are about how accomplished the student is at finding the information, not memorizing facts and trivia.

An issue I have a serious difficulty with relates to history. I have lost most of my ability to index things chronologically. I may remember something happened but have no idea in what order or when it happened. This is not an uncommon symptom of brain injury. You would be wise to determine if she has such a problem. You don't want to expect a skill that is just not there.

As she goes through everyday life, encourage her to research anything she is unfamiliar with. The internet is a fabulous way to broaden one's mind. She can research her specific symptoms, those of her friend who was shot in the head, an issue that is mentioned on the news, etc. Developing an inquisitive mind with a strong sense of how to find answers will hopefully overcome any sense of special treatment or disability she may feel. When she can knowledgeably converse with adults, she will grow and mature in amazing
ways.

You mentioned her IQ issues. They can be a conundrum for the brain injured. I have always had a high IQ. Probably like your daughters at 14. I still test in the 128 to 140's range but my delayed recall is in the 5 to 12% range. The neuro-psychs tend to say this high IQ means I have minimal cognitive dysfunctions regardless of the memory scores. What they fail to consider is that high IQ with low memory scores are a strong indicator of organic brain injury, not an indicator of a lazy mind.

Don't let her think her memory struggles will cause her to be less intelligent. She will just need to find other ways of expressing her intelligence. For me, I sound much less intelligent when talking verbally. If I type my thoughts, I can use the monitor to help me stay in the thought and be much more expressive of my ideas. Her recall struggles may cause a similar struggle for her.

Regarding her friend who was shot, she needs to remember that a gun shot wound is very focused in the damage it causes to the brain. A blunt trauma to the brain causes a more global injury with a broader range of symptoms.

Regarding her stubbornness, try to find some information about how a brain injury can cause "rigidity of thought." I think Dr Johnson's Guide mentions this symptom. I need to remember that I can become very rigid in my thinking and have chose to allow or defer to my wife to help me let go of some of my stubborn ideas.

If she can come to terms with the idea that sometimes, it is her injury that is being stubborn and choose to let go, her life and relationships will benefit. This is probably one of the most difficult symptoms to live with, whether as the subject/patient or the friends and family. Maybe she can make some note cards or signs for her room and mirror that encourage her to defer when she is feeling stubborn.

'nough said for tonight.

My best to you both.

Another site you might want to try is this http://www.givebackla.com/?cat=192

They have their whole book or most of it online to read. It is for a person suffering a TBI and for the caregivers. I have found a lot of useful information to use for my own recovery. The authors talks in detail that the first thing that a person with a TBI has to do is 1. want to get better 2. recognize the problem(s).

good luck to you and to your daughter

S

I hope this isn't too off-topic. 3 of my children were homeschooled all the way; 1 from 8th-12th grade; the other just for one year (grade 11). I would like to recommend a website http://theswap.com which has a forum I've been part of since 1997.

Hi again, I lost this site so couldn't reply but now it's found again. I am a doctor of veterinary medicine, and you really should pursue finding out about HBOT for your daughter. Just call and talk to Dr. Neubauer. He is extremely nice. Your traditional rehab doctor will not know too much about this most likely and won't encourage you to try this, but I know it can help and at least find out about this form of therapy for neurologic injury. I hope your daughter is doing well and continues to do well. My best, Dr. Dianne Peek