There are a number of cognitive, or thinking changes that may impact the person with the acquired brain injury. These may include:
- Taking more time to make sense or process information
- difficulties with planning, organizing and starting tasks
- problems understanding conversations, coming up with the right word and talking in grammatically complete sentences.
People may experience increased distractibility and have difficulty with multi-tasking or sequencing. Often memory may be impacted, especially short-term memory. The person may have difficulty with judgment and decision making. The person may perseverate or get “stuck” on a particular topic or activity. There might be some disorientation and confusion around date, time of day, location. The person may also exhibit impulsivity – acting before they think things through. Disinhibition is also common. This is when the individual does not have the same “social filter” he/she would have had in the past. This often results in the person doing or saying something that he/she shouldn’t.