Learn what symptoms and signs to look for in your child with TBI -- whether the injury happened at 3 years of age, or 12 years.
Turn Text Only Off
Page Utilities
BrainLine Kids is a service of 
Click on any phrase to play the video at that point.
I think if it's within a year or two of the accident, most schools and families might think
it's related to the accident. So it's not as much of a problem.
Where it's more of a problem is when you're injured when you're--say--around
3--2, 3, 4. Even this is true with a severe brain injury. The kids recover from their injury.
They look and they act very much like a typical 3, 4-year-old because we don't expect
3- and 4-year-olds to have much in the way of an attention span. We don't expect them to be
able to read, and we don't expect them to be able to do these things because
they're only 3. So they come back, and they look like a 3-year-old, which is great.
But then what happens is when they get into the higher school grades and they're supposed
to have developed attention and they're supposed to have learned how
to do certain things and they're supposed to have continued their normal development,
and they don't and they start to run into problems. Then they can get labeled as having
a learning disability because people have forgotten about that brain injury
that occurred back when they were 3. But the teaching mechanism, although some
of the strategies are the same for a learning-disabled person versus a
brain-injured person, they are different in that a learning-disabled child can learn
how to do one thing in a strategy and then generalize it to other areas. Most children
who have had a brain injury learn how to do X in a situation Y, and then they go to
situation Z and they're supposed to do X, and it's like an entirely new problem,
and they can't generalize. So you have to be prepared to teach things over and over
and over again to someone with a brain injury, whereas you're not necessarily
having to do that with a learning disability.
Produced by Victoria Tilney McDonough and Brian King, BrainLine.org.
Jane Gillett, MD,
Dr. Gillett was a fully qualified neurologist certified by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in both pediatric and adult neurology. She created and developed the Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury Community Outreach Program (PABICOP) at the Children’s Hospital of Western Ontario and was the medical director for four years. She died unexpectedly of cancer in February 2011.
The contents of Brainline (the “Web Site”), such as text, graphics, images, information obtained from the Web Site’s licensors and/or consultants, and other material contained on the Web Site (collectively, the “Content”) are for informational purposes only. The Content is not intended to be a substitute for medical, legal, or other professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
Specifically, with regards to medical issues, always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on the Web Site. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately. The Web Site does not recommend or endorse any specific tests, physicians, products, procedures, opinions, or other information that may be mentioned on the Web Site. Reliance on any information provided by the Web Site or by employees, volunteers or contractors or others associated with the Web Site and/or other visitors to the Web Site is solely at your own risk.
Related Content
BrainLine Footer
Getting Started |
Site Features |
Follow Us |
About |
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
RSS Feeds
BrainLine.org is a WETA website funded by the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center through a contract with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation. Government funding support is not an endorsement of WETA or any of its products, including this website.
© 2013 WETA All Rights Reserved
