Hurting your head can cause lots of problems. It can affect you in lots of different ways and one of them is your speech.

A lot of it depends on which part of the brain your hurt. Here are some common things that might be affected if you have an ABI.

• Talking (speech):  You can find it hard to speak and when you do other people cannot understand you
• Listening:  When people speak to you, you can hear them okay, but you can’t understand what it is that they have said to you
• Writing: Since hurting your head, you can’t write anymore and find school work hard.

If you have problems talking, you maybe sent to a speech therapist who can teach you how to talk again. This can take sometime though so you will need to be patient.

School can be a big worry. You may find it hard to talk to your friends, can’t understand the teachers or the school work and you may find that you can’t write anymore.

Going back to school is known to be very stressful if you have an ABI. Your school should make arrangements to make sure that you have some support when you go back. There are lots of people who can help you like a classroom assistant or educational psychologist. School teachers should be willing to help too. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Speech problems can be very frustrating. Nurse Anna can tell you more about why you have these sorts of problems and who can help.