Long-Term School Outcomes of Children and Adolescents With Traumatic Brain Injury

OBJECTIVE: To better understand the impact of age at injury, severity of injury, and time since injury on long-term school outcomes of children with traumatic brain injury (TBI). PARTICIPANTS: Four groups of children: complicated mild/moderate TBI (n = 23), severe TBI (n = 56), orthopedic injury (n = 35), and healthy controls (n = 42). Children with TBI were either 2 years postinjury or 6 years postinjury. DESIGN: Cross-sectional design. MEASURES: School records as well as parental ratings of functional academic skills and school competency. RESULTS: Children with severe TBI had consistently high usage of school services and low school competency ratings than children with orthopedic injuries and healthy controls. In contrast, children with complicated-mild/moderate TBI were significantly more likely to receive school support services and have lower competence ratings at 6 years than at 2 years postinjury. Students injured at younger ages had lower functional academic skill ratings than those injured at older ages. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the increasing academic challenges faced over time by students with complicated-mild/moderate TBI and the vulnerability of younger children to poorer development of functional academic skills.