Griffith University psychologists have co-authored a book designed to fill a much-needed gap in assisting families where one child has suffered a sudden brain injury.
Griffith PhD student Jennifer Tunstall and School of Psychology Head Associate Professor David Shum said the book aimed to help children cope with changes that occurred in their lives as a result from their sibling’s brain injury.
Told from the perspective of the family cat “Fuzzles”, the book covered common occurrences such as increased chores, changes in family meals, reduced attention from parents and changes in personality or physicality of their injured sibling.
In Australia, two to three in every 1,000 children suffered from a brain injury, the majority of which were caused by motor vehicle accidents and falls.
Ms Tunstall said while the sibling of an injured child would benefit from reading the book alone, more benefit would be achieved if the child read the book with an adult.
“The book has been designed as an entry-point for discussion about children’s feelings on how their lives have changed since their brother’s or sister’s injury,” Ms Tunstall said. “Many children do not confide their fears and feelings to adults and suffer in silence. Before writing this book, I searched for a book written to help children cope with these issues, but the only book I could find was one on written from the injured child’s viewpoint.”
As part of the writing process, Ms Tunstall conducted research to identify problems faced by siblings of brain-injured children.
“At the time there was little information for this specific group, most resources centred around issues faced by children with siblings who had disabilities from birth,” she said. Although issues are similar, the big difference is that a childhood brain injury produces sudden and often catastrophic changes to family life. The other large difference is that there is often a period of marked improvement in the injured child’s condition, which is why the book encourages siblings to look out for ‘good things’.”
Brightly illustrated by Griffith University PhD candidate Andrea Quinn, the book will be sold for $16.50 through the Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Research Centre, Griffith University and through the Australian Academic Press, Brisbane. Fully funded by Griffith University, the proceeds from book sales will go towards research into brain injury and the promotion of brain injury awareness.
Call Jennifer Tunstall on 07 3875 3341 or David Shum on 07 3875 3370 to obtain copies.