Children & Brain Injury

While the symptoms of a brain injury in children are similar to those experienced by adults, the functional impact can be very different. Children are not little adults; the brain of a child is still developing. The cognitive impairments of children with brain injury may not be immediately obvious after the injury, but may become apparent as the child gets older. These implications can create lifetime challenges for living and learning for children, their families, schools, and communities. In this section, you will find various resources for dealing with the most common implications of brain injury in children.

Incidence

Brain injury is the leading cause of disability and death in children and adolescents in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the two age groups at greatest risk for brain injury are age 0-4 and 15-19.

Symptoms & Recovery

Any or all of the following symptoms or impairments may occur to different degrees in children who have sustained a brain injury.

Education

When children with a brain injury return to school, their educational and emotional needs are often very different than before the injury.

Financial Issues

Parents of a child with brain injury often spend their time and energy on keeping their child comfortable, happy, and healthy.

Concussion Toolkit

This toolkit is designed to aid school administrators, athletic directors, school nurses, coaches and others with a comprehensive Return-To-Learn and Return-To-Play concussion management plan.

What Parents Should Know

Athletes often return to competition too soon following concussions. Repeated concussions that occur without full recovery from one to the next can result in potentially fatal brain swelling, called second-impact syndrome.

Sports Coaches

Learn How to Help Take Concussions Out of Play

School Nurses

Keep HEADS UP to Schools and Nurse materials available in your office and present them to other school staff during staff meetings.