Young Peoples’ Selfunderstanding and Agency after an Acquired Brain Injury

Abstract

This article is included in a ph.d. project ex- ploring “Meaning and coherence in the course of learning after an acquired brain injury”. It argues the importance of both a neuroscience and a subject science approach in order to understand young people’s agency and self- understanding, with a focus on social func- tioning after an acquired brain injury. Most children and young people in Norway, who have sustained a traumatic brain injury, return to school directly from the hospital. Participa- tion in 8 schools’ practices is included in this ph.d. project, where eight young people aged 13-17 years, all with a traumatic brain injury, are followed, in particular. The investigation consists of participant observations and in- terviews with the young people, their par- ents and significant professionals in school, in addition to document analyses of available neuropsychological reports, individual educa- tional plans (IEPs), and evaluation reports. In this article, agency and self-understanding after a traumatic brain injury are analysed, based on one of the 8 young people, Peter. The analysis shows that the absence of a “we”

    and conditions that restrict and maintain Peter in non-participating positions, exclude him from contexts and communities that he wants to be a part of. This article concludes that there is a requirement for both a neuroscience and a subject science approach in order to un- derstand the dialectical relationship between the biological reality of young people’s brain injuries, and the difficulties as they are ex- pressed in different social practices in and out of school. This understanding is claimed to be of great importance, so that young people can expand their agency and exceed marginal positions after the brain injury.