Independence After Brain Injury

Independent Living: Achieving independence following a brain injury is no less important to the injury victim as was achieving independence for a new nation back in 1776. Those who do not have an injured brain take most of the everyday things of life for granted. Not only that, they many times complain about them.

How many moms tell their children, "Make up your bed before you leave the house?" You might here something like, "I can't play tennis Saturday. I have to wash clothes." Or, "I'll put out the trash after I load the dishwasher."

For many high-functioning victims of brain injury performing a task like making the bed, or washing clothes, or putting out the trash, or loading the dishwasher can be a very long and complicated process.

Caregivers must help plan the task. The plan must recognize a lack of attention span, a lack of short term memory and mental fatigue. One way to help reduce mental fatigue is to make a very detailed plan: step-by-step instructions for completing the task. There should also be a checkbox so the independent-minded victim can put a checkmark when a step is complete.

Caregivers should not be afraid to include several items on the Daily Schedule. Remember, your loved one or friend is wanting to achieve independence. Make the schedule, include the instructions, and leave them to do it by themselves.

There is considerable information about creating schedules and To Do lists in Brain Injury Survivor's Guide. When Beth was struggling with independence, so was I. I wanted to do everything possible to protect her from anything and everything that might be bad. But I stepped on her independence more than once!

Yes, it is not easy to give your loved one a schedule and lists and back away. But you must. You must show your loved one the essence behind Beth's phrase, Never Give Up! We want our loved one to make progress. We do not want them to give up on themselves. And, in many cases, it means getting out of their way.

So what if they don't get everything done? So what if the clothes were washed without soap? Look at the list. Look at the checkmarks. If soap wasn't included, put Wash Clothes on tomorrow's schedule and let them try again.

A key to not giving up is trying again and again and again. Using the schedules and lists will eventually create new memory fragments. Sometimes those fragments will come together in a complete memory that allows the clothes to be washed without instructions. Then there will be those fatigue days where the fragments will remain fragments and the list will still be necessary. I'm writing this in October of 2009. Beth's brain injury happened in August of 1990. And we still use schedules and lists.

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