Aed 222 - Student Profile: Drake

Student Profile: Drake

Cami L. Southwell

AED222

January 8, 2012

Dr. Grania Holman

Student Profile: Drake

The student of discussion is named Drake, he is fifteen years old and already in the tenth grade. Drake comes from a single family home where the financial situation is limited so his needs are a strain on the family. Drake got into a car accident at fourteen years old where the vehicle's stick shift impaled the frontal lobe and Drake died at the scene and was revived at the hospital where he stayed in a coma for six months and his body atrophied and he had much work to do in order to be able to use his extremities again. Since Drake's return home from the hospital he has been moody and even violent at times destroying items, walls, and even badly denting vehicles with his bare hands. This causes teachers and school officials to have concern when it comes to his interactions with others students. In the school Drake shows a great longing to be able to learn the way he used to, his frustration with his new limitations is obvious. Drake has been through a great deal physically and mentally because since his accident his intelligence level seems to have dropped, he struggles more with his understanding and comprehension of new subjects unless it can pertain to his passion of cars. Drake does need some assistance when it comes to ensuring that Drake is going to be able to function adequately in society.

Drake is a highly intelligent child; according to his school records he has skipped two grades and retained an honor roll grade point average prior to his accident. After Drake returned to school the frustration with schoolwork that was easy for him before is very apparent and he has had a much harder time with his self control. This self control issue leads him to have outburst that is very disruptive to the lesson being taught. This distraction to the class can even become destructive and on the edge of being dangerous to himself and those around him, yet he seems to be unable to control his reactions and afterward he feels no remorse for how he felt that led to that destructive behavior, yet there is definite remorse about the actions. Drake can pay attention when the topic of the lesson interests him. If the subject is American History or anything having to with engines or cars his attentiveness and active participation is remnant to his behavior prior to his accident.

Traumatic Brain Injury is defined as obvious head injury that results in malfunctioning mental processes. People who have Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) can have major differences in the severity; ranging from concussions; the most common form; concussion to Diffuse Axonal Injury; which is damage from tearing of the brain tissue. Diffuse Axonal Injury can be caused by things such as shaken baby syndrome and some bicycle, car, or motorcycle accidents (Sebold, 2007). Drake has suffered this type injury because of the penetration injury which has caused cognitive differences from his mental state prior to his accident. According to the Family Caregiver Alliance TBI victims' changes in thinking include; but are not limited to; short attention span, problems with remembering, difficulties with problem solving, poor judgment, loss of reading and writing skills (whether complete or partial loss), loss of communication skills, loss of the ability to understand ideas that are new or abstract (Senelick, MD & Dougherty, 2001) . Drake shows many of these changes cognitively and this can create a need for assistance in order for Drake to learn how to function normally in society. Although Drake has shown remarkable recovery physically his personality and behavior has changed dramatically. These