Service provision for children and young people with acquired brain injury: Practice recommendations.

BACKGROUND: Providing appropriate rehabilitation services for Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) in childhood presents a number of challenges for caregivers, health and education professionals and the young person as they develop. PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: To record the challenges and possible creative solutions generated by an international group of professionals to address the needs of children with ABI. Review of information: Recommendations were generated from children's special interest group meetings of the International Brain Injury Association (Turin, Italy, 2001; Stockholm, Sweden, 2003; Melbourne, Australia, 2005; Lisbon, Portugal, 2008) and through meetings of the International Paediatric Brain Injury Society (IPBIS), formed in 2009. Delegates participating in the workshops were representative of nations from around the world and included The Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, the UK, Finland, Germany, South Africa, the US, Canada, Sweden, Brazil and Italy. OUTCOMES: The information presented is based on a retrospective review of those meetings and the summaries of the topics considered.

Caregiver reported problems of children and families 2-4 years following rehabilitation for pediatric brain injury.

In this article we report the results of a small-scale pilot study into the self-reported problems of children with brain injuries and the unmet needs of their families two to four years following rehabilitation in a rehabilitation centre. Parents reported a lot of ongoing problems in their children as well as unmet family needs. It is concluded that long-term follow-up programs, like the PABICOP program, founded by dr. Jane Gillett are necessary to detect and meet the needs of these children and families.