Concussion in Young Children: What You Need to Know #21

Today we’re chatting with Dr Elizabeth Sandel about concussion in young children. What causes it. What we need to look for and how we can help during the recovery process. There are free posters, helpful links and a video for you to use when you approach this topic with your kids. In the classroom we talk about personal safety and behaving well towards others, so why not expand that to talk about the very real possibility of concussion? You can listen to this episode above, listen to it on iTunes or Stitcher, or read the transcript below. Please note: some of the graphics used in this post were created BY THE CDC. Who is Dr Sandel? Dr Sandel has specialized in caring for patients with brain injuries for more than 30 years and is board-certified in physical medicine, rehabilitation and brain injury medicine (BIM). She has worked with patients of all ages injured in falls and motor vehicle accidents, as well as athletes, veterans, injured workers, and victims of violent crime. She is currently a medical director for Paradigm Management Services, which provides case management to those with concussions and severe brain injuries. You can find Dr Sandel’s website HERE. Plus you can connect on: * Twitter * Linked In Reasons to scroll down this post Make sure you look out for: * Free posters to explain concussion and its symptoms to young children. * 1 minute video to explain concussion to young children * Links to parent guides and other resources * Links to websites discussed by Dr Sandel regarding nursery safety, preventing falls and where to check for crib and furniture recalls. * Link to a free app for 6-8 year olds The Interview Dr. Sandel, thanks so much for being on the Early Childhood Research podcast this morning. I really appreciate the opportunity, thank you so much. What is a concussion? How can we recognise the signs of concussion, especially when the children are younger and they can’t express what they’re feeling? Sometimes we don’t know whether we should be panicking or not.  A concussion is what we call a mild brain injury. It’s caused by a blow or a bump or a jolt to the head, but the most important thing is you can have a blow, a bump or a jolt to the head and not have a concussion. It has to be a disruption of brain functioning. How do we know a concussion has occurred? Well if the person, child or adult loses consciousness, we know they had a brain injury. That doesn’t mean they have lasting problems, but they had a brain injury if they got knocked out or lost consciousness. The other thing to remember is that the symptoms are not necessarily immediate, they can develop in the first 24-48 hours after the incident, but back to your question about children, I think we have to group them into the preverbal and the verbal children – children who have enough language to begin to express themselves. Pre-verbal children In the pre-verbal category, I think it’s up to the parents to notice changes in the behaviour or habits that suggest something’s not right: * Irritability * Crying * Changes in sleep habits which happen across the bo...