March 2018

Tuesday, March 20, 2018 is Brain Injury Awareness Day on Washington's Capitol Hill where awareness fairs, congressional briefings, and receptions are sponsored by the Brain Injury Association of America. In celebration of this effort, we are highlighting the resources in our library that provide the latest in research and treatment for brain injuries. In this issue you will be introduced to books, DVDs, and curriculum materials specifically developed for individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), family members, caregivers and providers. You will meet our featured Child Champion, Daria Jones, a regional TBI resource coordinator with WVU-CED. Come browse our library resources on TBI.

(DVD) Making a Difference- Meeting the Special Needs of Individuals with Brain Injury

By Texas Dept. of State Health Services & TBI Advisory Council

"Making a Difference" is comprised of ten training modules that illustrate the neuro-anatomy of a brain injury and the everyday difficulties experienced by many brain injury survivors. The video offers useful tips for effective communication and for directing individuals, families and loved ones to needed supports and services. In addition, the video includes a section that addresses the special needs of veterans with brain injury.

Total run time: 97 min

Brain Injury Survival Kit

by Cheryle Sullivan, MD

This practical, easy-to-use book gives brain injury survivors, their families, and their loved ones the strategies they need to boost brain function and live well. Author Cheryle Sullivan, a medical doctor and brain injury survivor, has compiled tips, techniques and life-task shortcuts from personal experience. The book explains balancing a checkbook, using medication alarms, compensating for impaired memory, locating things that have been put away, finding the right word, concentration exercises and much more.

Check out the Brain Injury Survival Kit

Hero's Journey (Adult Curriculum)

by Kit Malia & Anne Brannagan

This workbook is filled with practical exercises for clinicians, families and individuals to use. Over fifty concepts are introduced through stories, analogies and images. The activities are designed as adventures, challenges and insights that are intended to enhance the understanding of how the brain works. Some exercises are very easy. Others are more difficult. According to authors Malia and Brannagan, "anyone who manages to successfully make adjustments following brain injury is a hero."

Check out Hero's Journey (Adult Curriculum)

Understanding the Effects of Concussion, Blast & Brain Injuries: A Guide for Families, Veterans, Service Members and Caregivers

By Lash & Associates Publishing

This guide is designed to help the service members, their families and caregivers understand the immediate and long-term consequences of traumatic brain injury. Surviving a brain injury in one thing; living with a brain injury is another. This guide provides tips and strategies for coping and moving forward as service members and their families resume and rebuild their lives.

Check out Understanding the Effects of Concussion, Blast & Brain Injuries: A Guide for Families, Veterans, Service Members and Caregivers

Children & Youth

Our Daddy is Invincible!

By Shannon Maxwell

"Our Daddy is Invincible" is a book for kids of parents with brain injury. After Alexis and Eric find out their daddy was badly hurt they are scared for him and wonder how their lives will change. They soon learn that there are people to help, new adventures to be found, and new ways to find enjoyment together as a family. Based on a true story of a Wounded Warrior.

A Child's Champion

Daria has been working with children and adults with multiple disabilities for 45 years, assisting in all facets of life including education, rehabilitation, employment and transportation. Daria is a Certified Brain Injury Specialist and Resource Coordinator for the TBI Program at the WVU Center for Excellence n Disabilities, working with survivors of traumatic brain injury and their families to help keep them as independent as possible in their homes and communities. She assists in the navigation of services of which families are unaware and helps with creative solutions to their needs. Daria believes in working with children, adolescents and adults through their choices while assisting in getting them as close as possible to their vision of where they want to be and how they want to live in their communities.

Paths for Parents Program

Navigating systems as a parent or caregiver of a child with disabilities can be confusing and overwhelming. The Paths for Parents program provides information and support through three unique services in effort to empower parents in becoming real partners within the medical home.Services in this program include: The Disability Resource Library, Parent Network Specialists, and Nutrition Services. To learn more, visit http://p4p.cedwvu.org/.