ABSTRACT
The author is still trying to bud through non-ideal conditions in order to grow and try to blossom. She finds she keeps rolling onto broken pathways that reveal her multitude of deficits. In an evaluation, she learns that with her prefrontal brain injury, she still has linguistic skills intact. To her, that sounds like she is doing okay. However, she found there are many deficits from this brain-injured area demonstrated in numerous other ways. Her new way of being shows disorganized speech. She has difficulty processing information. She processes very slowly and then forgets what she is trying to think about. She is stumped by troubles with ambiguity. She feels useless trying to learn new information. She has trouble “getting” it, or it just goes over her head. Another difficulty is in interpreting social cues, which leads to inappropriate social interactions. Misinterpretation causes many problems. Abstract concepts are lost to her. She, along with most TBI survivors, has lesser control of emotions. These are all part of information exchange, the hallmark of communication. Her new lack of these skills is often met with confusion or irritability by others who cannot interpret what she is trying to communicate.
