Students with TBI - Thriving Beyond Injury
Part 1 - Introduction

Part 1 provides background on traumatic brain injury (TBI), on the laws which define your child's rights, and important TBI facts and figures to assist you, as you advocate for your child's right to thrive beyond injury

Summary of Part 1

Because there is no clear direction from Ohio on evaluation of children with TBI or best practices in providing educational services to children with TBI, your child's school may need information and guidance to provide a FAPE to your child. This book can help you and your school work through the process of developing a plan to educate your child. Remember that there is an expanded definition of TBI in Ohio that may qualify your child for special education services through an IEP.

Introduction to Part 1

As of 2005, the Ohio Department of Education reported 962 children served under the TBI category in Ohio's schools. Given that TBI became a category for special education eligibility in 1991, OLRS believes that many more children should have been identified by Ohio's schools as eligible for services under the TBI category. Our motivation for writing this book is based on these and other statistics, and our agency usage statistics. The primary goal of this book is to help parents and schools to work together to improve services to children with TBI. Another goal of this book is to emphasize the discrepancy between the number of children who sustain moderate to severe TBI, and the number of children who are identified and served in the TBI category in Ohio's schools.

This book is designed to provide parents of children with traumatic brain injuries with information about special education and related services as they are provided under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) in the state of Ohio. This publication has been written to guide parents through the process of getting appropriate special education services through the various stages of traumatic brain injury and rehabilitation.

Special Education Law

The IDEA is a federal law which requires specialized services to be provided to children with disabilities age 0 through 21. That law requires schools to provide a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) to children beginning at age 3 in the least restrictive environment (LRE), and the provision of early intervention services to children age 0 through 2. A team of individuals with knowledge of your child and special education is required to decide eligibility for services and what services your child needs. You are an important member of that team. This book will help prepare you for your role as a team member.

A FAPE means that your child receives the appropriate special education and related services to address his or her unique needs. These services are provided at no cost to you. Special education is specially designed instruction to meet the needs your child has because of his or her disability. Related services are services your child needs in order to benefit from his or her specially designed instruction. Related services include, but are not limited to, speech therapy, physical and occupational therapy, assistive technologies and transportation.

In addition to the IDEA, there are other federal laws which may provide specialized services to your child. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, commonly called Section 504, is a federal law which prohibits schools and other agencies that receive federal money from discriminating against people with disabilities. Your child may qualify for services through Section 504. If your school tells you that your child does not qualify for an IEP through the IDEA, you should ask your school to determine whether your child qualifies for services through a Section 504 plan.

Another federal law, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), requires schools and other programs to provide access to people with disabilities. This law may apply to your child if your child is being denied access to school or another program because of a disability.

This book addresses services, procedures and rights regarding the IDEA. For more information on 504 and the ADA.

Definition of TBI - Ohio v. IDEA

There are two definitions of traumatic brain injury that apply to children with disabilities and special education. The definition of TBI in the IDEA is limited to acquired brain injuries caused by an external force to the head. Ohio has a different definition of TBI. In Ohio, the definition of TBI includes damage to the brain caused by medical conditions which are not external, such as strokes, tumors, and injuries caused by surgeries. The distinction in Ohio is important because it qualifies more children with brain injuries for special education services.

You should make sure that your school district understands the broader Ohio definition of TBI when advocating for services for your child. Below is the definition of TBI with the additional Ohio language in italics:

An acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force or other medical conditions, including but not limited to stroke, anoxia, infectious disease, aneurysm, brain tumors and neurological insults resulting from medical or surgical treatments.

The injury results in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment or both, that adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term applies to open or closed head injuries, as well as to other medical conditions that result in acquired brain injuries.

The injuries result in impairments in one or more areas such as cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech.

The term does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.

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