The promotion of recovery through rehabilitation after acquired brain injury in children

Abstract

A degree of motor recovery is typically seen after acquired brain injury in children. The extent to which rehabilitation efforts can claim credit for this is disputed. Strong correlations between late impairment outcomes and early severity and impairment indices are seen both in adults and children. These correlations have been interpreted by some as evidence that recovery is largely intrinsic and that any additional rehabilitation effects are small. Such views are belied by published animal studies demonstrating the possibility of large rehabilitation effects. Animal models suggest that to achieve similar rehabilitation treatment effect sizes in clinical practice, rehabilitation ‘doses’ should be greater, rehabilitation efforts should start sooner, and premature accommodation of impairment should be avoided.

Using child‐ and family‐centred goal setting as an outcome measure in residential rehabilitation for children and youth with acquired brain injuries: The challenge of predicting expected levels of achievement

“…Depending on the location and severity of the ABI, children can present with a range of physical, emotional, cognitive, communication, and behavioural difficulties (Johnson, DeMatt, & Salorio, ). Children who sustain a severe brain injury often require a period of specialist child‐ and family‐centred, multidisciplinary rehabilitation to allow them to achieve the best possible outcomes and to participate as fully as possible at home, at school, and in the community on discharge (Forsyth & Basu, ).…”

Paediatric neurorehabilitation: finding and filling the gaps through the use of the Institute for Manufacturing strategic roadmapping method

“…The benefits that technology has brought to various health sectors have been well documented,23 and this investment may lead to significant savings in the future both in terms of cost and morbidity. Rehabilitative technologies have been hypothesised to be of considerable benefit to patients after neurological insults and have been shown to be of advantage in adult patients, but the evidence in children remains poor 10. A centre to routinely audit and evaluate these technologies and to provide leadership in the use of these emerging techniques currently does not exist.…”

Effectiveness of music therapy as an aid to neurorestoration of children with severe neurological disorders

“…Different therapies have been designed to enhance neural plasticity and thus promote recovery of function (Gordon and Di Maggio, 2012 ). A recent review of rehabilitation of children with acquired brain injury (Forsyth and Basu, 2015 ) argues that improved results might follow from “greater doses” of treatment that might produce more extensive compensatory brain plasticity. However, an alternative to simply increasing the amount of a specific intervention might be to enhance standard treatments by using different adjunct procedures.…”