VISIONS RAINBOWA Magazine for Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Professionals, Survivors and Families RAINBOW REHABILITATION CENTERS INC. FALL 2014 www.rainbowrehab.com Volume XI No. 3 Post-traumatic Amnesia What kind of recovery can be expected after a person experiences a traumatic brain injury? Experts look to the length of time an individual remains in post-traumatic amnesia for clues. Sensory Integration in the Classroom Adapting to a child’s difficulty in processing input from their environment Encouraging School Success How Rainbow school liaisons support students and their teachers President's Corner KEY TO IMPROVEMENT 2014 Employee Survey Results By: Bill Buccalo, President Rainbow Rehabilitation Centers Some of the employment categories where ainbow is a people business. People taking care of people; people we saw the most significant improvements inspired by each other; people making or breaking the company are outlined here. reputation, and the list goes on. I love working at Rainbow because of the Administrative people I work with and work for. Many of my fellow employees feel the Spirit of teamwork same. I wrote this article on the heels of our quarterly Employee of the Overall employee morale Season luncheon (See page 25.) This long standing event is one of my Communication between employees and management favorite Rainbow traditions. Employees, clients, families, and the commu- Rehabilitation Assistants nity can nominate employees for special recognition. The stories shared Spirit of teamwork are truly inspiring. We understand that a key to this business revolves Seeking out and implementing around how people treat, value, communicate, and listen to each other. employee ideas Rainbow’s focus on employee safety In the spirit of listening, Rainbow recently completed the 2014 Employee Communicating Rainbow’s Opinion Survey to gain information on how employees feel the com- corporate direction pany is performing in a variety of areas. We were pleased to learn that Residential Program Managers employees feel the company is moving in the right direction. Overall, the Recognition of employee 563 employees who participated scored Rainbow higher in nearly every contributions category as compared to 2013. Rainbow’s overall score improved to an Overall employee morale “Above Average” rating. Communication between employees and management Rainbow strives to be the market’s provider of choice. To achieve this sta- Rainbow’s focus on continuing tus, stakeholders must be highly satisfied with our services. Listening to education employees, just like the need to listen to customers, is incredibly impor- Communicating Rainbow’s corporate tant. Meetings held with all employees this summer resulted in some direction Rainbow U Staff wonderful dialog regarding areas where the company can continue to Use of employees’ skills and improve. While the overall improvement noted in the survey is direction- experience ally outstanding, Rainbow is committed to working with all employees on Rainbow’s ability to solve customer further improvement in results. service issues Rainbow’s tangible benefits Therapists Recognition of employee contributions Overall employee morale Rainbow’s tangible benefits Communicating Rainbow’s corporate direction 2 | RAINBOWVISIONS RAINBOWVISIONS | 3 www.rainbowrehab.com FALL 2014 Features On the 2 President's Corner – Employee Survey Results Bill Buccalo, President, Rainbow Rehabilitation Centers Cover The length of time that a person 4 Medical News – Sensory Integration in the Classroom experiences post-traumatic Katherine Dumsa, MS, OTR/L, CBIS amnesia may be a predictor of the severity of their injury. 6 Clinical News –Post-traumatic Amnesia Carolyn A. Scott, Ph.D. 12 Survivor Perspective – David Abrams Barry Marshall, Editor 16 Therapy Corner –Encouraging School Success Barry Marshall, Editor 20 Conferences and Events News at Rainbow Page 6 19 Rainbow U—Fish On! 22 Artists display work at brain injury conference 24 New Professionals at Rainbow 25 Employees of the Season 4 12 19 800.968.6644 www.rainbowrehab.com Our mission is to inspire the people we serve to realize their greatest potential SM Editor—Barry Marshall Copyright September 2014 – Rainbow Rehabilitation Centers, Inc. All rights reserved. Published in the United Associate Editor & Designer—Celine DeMeyer States of America. No part of this publication may be Contributor—Nick Galluch reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from Rainbow Rehabilitation Centers, Inc. Contact the editor: [email protected]. E-mail questions or comments to: [email protected] 2 | RAINBOWVISIONS RAINBOWVISIONS | 3 Medical news Objects such as fidget toys and therapy balls offer sensory feedback that may help calm hypersensitive children thoughtout their school day. 4 | RAINBOWVISIONS RAINBOWVISIONS | 5 www.rainbowrehab.com FALL 2014 Sensory integration in the classroom HOW DOES IT HELP THE CHILD WITH A BRAIN INJURY? By: Katherine Dumsa, MS, OTR/L, CBIS Rainbow Rehabilitation Centers Sensory processing is the brain’s ability to interpret What modifications can we make to the classroom? information from the environment and determine Occupational therapists provide sensory integration therapy S how to respond with emotion, attention and motor to create a “sensory diet” to regulate or provide stimulation to responses. Sensory processing dysfunction may affect young improve and maintain optimal functioning. The sensory diet children, individuals diagnosed on the autistic spectrum and can be carried over from school into the home to provide strat- someone who has sustained a traumatic brain injury. egies for the child to utilize independently. Adaptations within While symptoms and presentation can vary highly between the school may include: individuals, symptoms seen in children with sensory processing • A sensory space—An area to be active and physical or to disorder include: clumsiness, unwanted behaviors, agitation, be calm with quiet time difficulty in a structured environment and trouble relating to • Activities to provide touch and texture—Play-Doh®, peers or siblings. beads, stress ball The National Institute for Neurological Disorders completed research showing a breakdown of synaptic activity following • Alter lighting—natural or soft lighting that may be difficult injury to the brain. The breakdown often depletes commu- for visually impaired individuals nication and normal responses between neurons. Following • Improve classroom seating—adjust chairs for optimum fit, a traumatic brain injury, a child may have difficulty process- provide textures (therapy ball) or a vibrating cushion for ing input from their environment. This is described as hyper sensory feedback or hypo responsive to stimuli. Hyper-responsive individuals may have anxiety, respond intensely or be resistant to change. • Physical activities/sports in between classes Hypo-responsive children can present as lethargic and slow to • Fidget toys—large bands for student to stretch legs while respond with reduced motivation to participate. seated, theraputty for hands How does this affect the child’s daily functioning? • Programs to provide sensory stimulation such as A child that is hypersensitive to sensory information can also “Handwriting Without Tears” be referred to as a “sensory seeker.” A child will seek sensory input to help regulate and calm them throughout the school Occupational therapists play an important role in the evalu- day. This may present as: ation and treatment of children with sensory processing dis- • Insatiable desire for sensory input, highly active orders. While the treatment plan is individualized, it takes a full treatment team including the family, therapists and school • Poor safety awareness, poor perception of pain teachers to facilitate a successful • Fidgety, difficulty sitting in chair at school environment for the student at home and in school. v • Easily bored Symptoms stated above will affect the level of arousal References NINDS, (2002) Traumatic Brain Injury: and ability to sustain attention in a learning environment. Hope Through Research, NIH Publication Development of language, motor and cognitive skills along No. 02-2478 with social interaction can all be delayed. Retrieved from http://www.ninds.nih. gov/disorders/tbi/detail_tbi.htm 4 | RAINBOWVISIONS RAINBOWVISIONS | 5 Clinical News Post-traumatic AmnesiaBy: Carolyn A. Scott, Ph.D. Rainbow Rehabilitation Centers 6 | RAINBOWVISIONS RAINBOWVISIONS | 7 www.rainbowrehab.comwww.rainbowrehab.com WINTERFALL 20142014 When a friend or family member experiences a traumatic brain injury, your natural reaction may be to ask how severe the injury was and what kind of recovery can be expected. Medical providers and those involved in acute, sub-acute, and long-term rehabilitation are also interested in understanding the severity of the injury, as this is important information to have in order to address the second question: how will the injured individual recover? Continued on page 8 6 | RAINBOWVISIONS RAINBOWVISIONS | 7 Clinical News Post-traumatic Amnesia Continued from page 7 There are multiple methods to assess the severity of a traumatic brain injury Understanding how long someone is in post-traumatic (TBI). Providers look at loss of conscious- ness score on the Glasgow Coma Scale, confusion is important in labeling the severity of the injury, and and how long it takes someone to follow it can be helpful for predicting outcomes from the injury as well.