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How UT Dallas Researchers Are Changing Injured Brains for the Better

The Dallas Morning News

Jonathan Lambert

Overview

After an ATV accident left him in a coma for five days, 17-year-old Brian Conroy woke up with a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Suffering from confusion, headaches and physical imbalance, he spent most of his days sleeping. He soon began intensive rehabilitation, and after two years, his recovery had not been as momentous as he had hoped. Doctors said “after two years, your brain is kinda what it's going to be,” Brian said, “and that was frustrating to hear. I didn't want to be 19 and say, OK, well I guess this is it.” However, researchers at Center for BrainHealth, part of The University of Texas at Dallas, are discovering that strategy-based training can both improve cognitive functioning and alleviate depressive symptoms in TBI patients. In 2013, Brian became one of the first TBI patients to complete SMART™ training at Center for BrainHealth. Short for Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Tactics, SMART seeks to address cognitive deficiencies by building selective attention skills, a common deficit in TBI, through a progressive, eight-week group program designed to strengthen top-down cognitive control. Read the full story in The Dallas Morning News

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Sandra Bond Chapman, PhD

Chief Director Dee Wyly Distinguished Professor, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences Co-Leader, The BrainHealth Project

Related Information

Strategic Brain Training Positively Affects Neural Connectivity for Individuals with TBI

A recent study at Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas shows that a certain type of instructor-led brain training protocol can stimulate structural changes in the brain and neural connections even years after a traumatic brain injury (TBI).