Originally Posted by Lillia

I was hoping to hear from anyone who's dealt with a concussion in a very young child (under 7 or so) -- whether there were long-term changes, months or years later.

My four-year-old daughter had a frontal lobe concussion in mid-February. She seemed to be recovering well at first -- there were some minor, immediate behavioral changes (sleep disturbances, moodiness), but we assumed these would subside as she recovered. About a month after the injury, she suddenly began showing more unnerving behavioral changes -- odd/inappropriate emotional responses (such as giggling uncontrollably in response to things that previously would have upset her, which then spirals into a period of increasingly hyper behavior), increasing inability to focus during conversation, loss of attention span, etc. The pediatric neurologist said these types of behaviors are common after frontal-lobe injuries but suggested that they usually fade within a month or two after the injury.

But these things seem to be getting worse rather than better. And I've been obsessively researching in an effort to educate myself on what to expect, and the research I've seen is so frightening. I thought the conventional wisdom was that children recover better from brain injuries than adults, because their brains are still developing. But I guess now the idea is that this means the damage they sustain is actually much worse. Some of the articles indicate that frontal-lobe concussions in very young children (under 7 or so) can actually can prevent the affected areas of the brain from ever developing. So a child may seem to have recovered, but then (as years pass) falls further and further behind socially, emotionally, and cognitively. Or learning deficits and behavioral problems may appear years later.

We're working on getting our daughter evaluated by a neuropsych to see whether there are any sort of therapies that might be helpful for her. But in the meantime, I am sort of desperately trying to find out what the outcomes have been for other people in similar situations. I know every injury is different, and everyone recovers differently. But it would still be helpful to hear from other people who've dealt with this kind of thing.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by Junebug77

My son suffered a head injury at the age of 4yrs3mos which resulted in him losing consciousness for less than a few minutes and three stitches on his forehead. I monitored him for a concussion but he seemed fine at the time.

I was never given any information at the hospital as to what could be expected from an injury such as this. My son began displaying aggressive behavior and as time went on, all the common symptoms of ADHD which I have now learned are the same symptoms displayed by people that have suffered injury to their frontal cortex. He now (at age 8 and a half) also has a very high anxiety level and symptoms of depression. At this point I don't know whether the behavior/symptoms are from the injury or if he just has ADHD and/or some other disorder (anxiety, depression etc) as I am still in the process of getting a diagnosis for him. It is very frustrating for both him and I.

He is starting a form of biofeedback treatment this week that I am hopeful will be helpful. I'll repost at a later time as an update.

Good luck.