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Brain Injury
Introduction:
Unfortunately, head injuries among our youth are
all too common. These injuries account for approximately
one hundred hospitalizations annually. The most
common modes of injury include motor vehicle accidents,
bicycle accidents, falls, sporting injuries, and
child abuse. There are certain aspects of brain
injury that remain unique to children. For example,
it remains difficult to measure brain loss or
function in a child since prior academic records,
I.Q. scores, and job histories are not as common
as with adults. According to studies, children
are more susceptible than adults to permanent
brain damage even when the forces involved are
equivalent.
In children, some neurological deficits after head trauma may not surface
for many years after the date of injury. For example, the frontal lobe functions
develop relatively late during a child's growth. As a result, the damage
from an early injury to the frontal lobe will not be known until the frontal
lobe is called upon during the later part of the child's development. Similarly,
damage to the reading and writing sections of the brain may be unknown until
the child is of school age and shows signs of deficient reading and writing
skills. Furthermore, the effects of brain injury in adolescents are often
difficult to distinguish from the normal anxiety and behavioral changes that
occur as part of adolescent development.
If you believe that your child has suffered brain injury as a result of another
person's negligence, contact the Lewis Law Firm at (610) 520-7333.
Definitions:
Statistics of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI):
- Leading killer and cause of disability in children
- More than 2 million brain injuries occur each
year (more than 1 million children)
- Estimated rate is 100 per 100,000 persons with
52,000 annual deaths
- Males are 2 times more likely than females
- TBI is a disorder of major public health significance
- Mild TBI is under diagnosed
- 5.3 million Americans are living with brain injury
Causes of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI):
- Transportation related injuries
- Bicycle riding
- Scooters
- Sports and recreation
- Falls
- Shaken baby
- Violence
Causes of Acquired Brain Injury (ABI):
- Tumor
- Stroke
- Aneurysm
- Infections of the brain
- Near drowning
- Ingestion of toxic substance
Parts of the Brain:
- Brain stem
- Functions in breathing, heart rate, arousal/consciousness,
sleep/wake functions, attention/concentration
- Cerebellum
- Functions in balance, coordination, skilled
motor activity
- Occipital lobe
- Parietal lobe
- Sense of touch, differentiation of size,
shape, color, spatial perception, visual perception
- Temporal lobe
- Memory, hearing, understanding language,
organization and sequence
- Frontal lobe
- Initiation, problem solving, judgment, inhibition
of behavior, self-monitoring, awareness of
abilities and limitations, attention/concentration,
organization, mental flexibility, speaking,
personality/emotions, motor planning
Brain Injury can be confused with:
- Mental impairments
- Physical and other health impairments
- Learning disabilities
- Hearing and visual impairments
- Speech and language impairments
- Developmental delays
- Behavioral/emotional problems
Degrees of Brain Injury:
- Mild brain injury
- Loss of consciousness is brief, usually
a few seconds or minutes
- Loss of consciousness does not have to occur
- Scans may appear normal
- Concussion
- Symptoms usually experienced within
24 hours:
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Confusion
- Ringing in ears
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Vision changes
- Moderate Brain Injury
- Loss of consciousness that lasts from a
few minutes to a few hours
- Confusion lasts from days to weeks
- Physical, cognitive, and/behavioral impairments
last for months or may be permanent
- Severe Brain Injury
- Coma
- Persistent vegetative state
- Physical, cognitive, and behavioral impairments
last for months or may be permanent
For even more information on our Brain Injury practice
area, click
here to view our specific site.
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