Brain injury and communication
People with a brain injury (sometimes also referred to as a head injury) may experience difficulties
with understanding and expressing themselves. In particular with:
- concentrating and remembering things
- following instructions, especially if you say them too
quickly or give too much detail
- understanding what you say or write
- moving quickly from one topic to another in a
discussion
- organising themselves
- finding solutions to problems
- finding the right words to say or write
- keeping to the subject of a conversation.
Their speech may be slurred. As a result a person who has had a brain injury may not be easy to understand.
 Audio quote: Connor
 Written quote: Alison M
Key actions
To enable a person with a brain injury to engage more
fully:
- ensure the environment is quiet, with no
distractions
- look at the person when you are speaking to them, if this is culturally appropriate
- give the person time to take in spoken and written
information
- use clear, simple, written and spoken language
- make sure a pen and paper are available
- write down key points to help the person
understand
- allow the person time to express their opinions and
answer questions
- give the person encouragement to communicate.
 Brain
injury: further information
Brain injury (MS
Word)
Brain injury (Adobe
PDF)
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