Cognitive fatigue after childhood brain injury (Riccardi, 2023)

Background: Cognitive fatigue after childhood acquired brain injury (ABI) is known to negatively impact engagement in typical academic and social activities, yet limited evidence is available to inform speech-language pathologists’ (SLPs’) clinical practices. The purpose of this research study was to explore stakeholders’ perspectives on cognitive fatigue for children with ABI to inform future directions for clinicians and researchers.Method: Twelve parents of children with traumatic brain injury and 35 SLPs participated in an online survey with 33 and 49 questions, respectively, including participant characteristics and perspectives on cognitive fatigue.Results: Parents reported being between “somewhat” and “highly aware” about cognitive fatigue, whereas SLPs reported being between “neither aware or not aware” and “somewhat aware.” Parents reported being between “somewhat comfortable” and “very comfortable,” whereas SLPs reported being between “neither comfortable or uncomfortable” and “somewhat comfortable” addressing cognitive fatigue in children with ABI. SLPs “somewhat” to “strongly” agreed that cognitive fatigue for children with ABI was within their scope of practice. Parents and SLPs reported accommodations and strategies useful to managing cognitive fatigue in children with brain injury, as well as factors that worsen and lessen cognitive fatigue.Conclusions: While additional foundational and translation research is needed, the perspectives of parents and SLPs begin to address a critical gap in SLPs’ assessment and management of cognitive fatigue in children with ABI.Supplemental Material S1. Survey questions.Supplemental Material S2. Factors and strategies.Riccardi, J. S. (2023). A preliminary investigation of stakeholders’ perspectives on cognitive fatigue after childhood brain injury. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_AJSLP-23-00204