The yearly statistics are massive; about 100,000 children sustain brain injuries requiring hospitalization. Most of these are moderate or severe brain injuries.

Over 500,000 kids are seen in hospital emergency departments for head injuries and released without hospitalization. Most of these kids suffered concussions.

(There are several studies—including one from Harborview—confirming that 50 percent of concussions are missed at the ER.)

I bet there are at least 1,000,000 kids every year who suffer concussions but either don’t end up at the ER or aren’t diagnosed when they’re there.

That means there are roughly 1,500,000 pediatric concussions a year.

The yearly statistics are massive; about 100,000 children sustain brain injuries requiring hospitalization. Most of these are moderate or severe brain injuries.Kids and adults have similar types of post-concussive symptoms. However, the functional impact can be very different. That’s because the brain of a child is continuing to develop.

Kids bounce back from most injuries a lot better than adults. The assumption used to be that a younger brain had more “plasticity.” But research has shown concussions have a more significant impact on kids than most adults. (I qualified that because older adults are also vulnerable.)

In addition to the fact that kids’ brains are still developing, there’s also a problem in terms of impairment recognition. Cognitive issues may not be immediately obvious to parents, providers, or educators.

Common deficits include difficulty in processing information, and impaired judgment and reasoning. When an adult is injured, these deficits usually come into focus during the months following the injury. For a child, it may be years before the deficits from the injury become apparent. (There’s also a delta in terms of kids and adults being able to both self-assess and describe changes.)

Cognitive issues are frequently not recognized until kids get older and face increased cognitive demands and social exceptions. School work gets harder. Interaction with peers becomes more nuanced and challenging. Kids with concussive residuals have a lifetime of challenges in front of them.

Frequent challenges for students with post-concussive symptoms include difficulty with memory and comprehension, trouble completing the required amount of work within an allotted time, lack of energy, susceptibility to distraction, and confusion.

Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) are essential for students with these challenges. An IEP is a plan or program makes sure kids who need it receive specialized instruction and related services. An IEP is a flexible plan, and can be changed as the parents, the school, and the student learn more about what sort of accommodations the student needs for success in the classroom.

Brain injury affects everyone in the family. Parents of kids with post-concussive symptoms spend an exponential amount of time and energy helping their kids. The time spent away from work is one of the many economic components of a personal injury claim stemming from a kid’s brain injury