The effects of TBI on children differ in several ways from
the effects on an injured adult. First, because the child's brain
is still developing, injury may alter the course of development of
the brain and its functions. This can work to the child's favor. Because
the child's brain is more malleable, its plasticity offers hope that
damaged tissue and areas of deficit will be 'bypassed' in the child's
brain by other parts taking over for these areas that no longer work
well.
Second, after a brain injury, previously learned information, which
provides important building blocks for subsequent learning, is retained
and used. However, in very young children, these building blocks are
relatively few, handicapping them as learners in comparison to similarly
brain injured older children or adults, who have larger foundations
of intact information.
Third, the effects of the TBI on the child may not be seen directly
after injury, but only become manifested in the child's life when,
during the course of the child's development, affected skills are
called upon. For example, problems in abstract thinking may not be
evident until the child with a TBI reaches an age when abstract thinking
enters the realm of possibility for any child at that developmental
level. Because of this lag in the emergence of problems, the cause
of the problems — the —TBI may not be identified.
Frequently, such problems are dealt with — inappropriately — as
if they are due to learning disabilities or emotional causes. This
misperception by teachers, parents and others can devastate the child,
because the strategies used to help a child with TBI are different
from those used to address similar problems that stem from other causes.
A child will suffer in two ways: feeling diminished or confused because
no one knows what is really wrong and being damaged as a learner because
no one can nurture learning based on understanding his or her needs.
