Children with Traumatic Brain Injury - Research Paper Example

Brain injury in children affiliation Brain injury in children Introduction Traumatic injuries to the brain occur when forces externally cause traumatic injury to the brain. Approximately 1.5 million of Americans are affected by traumatic brain injuries in a year and these results to about a hundred thousand cases of lifetime impairment with loss of functioning. Recent data suggest that 3.2 million of Americans who are living with long-term disability due to trauma to their brains. An estimation of about 2.5 million to 6.5 million people is thought to be living with the consequences of brain injuries due to trauma (Hamilton & Keller, 2010). Traumatic injuries are responsible for huge economic burden to the family and society. In addition, it causes devastating effects to the families and friends of the children who are injured because of cognitive, emotional, behavioral and social effects. Traumatic brain injuries economic burden has been estimated to the level of sixty billion dollars. While the treatment related to traumatic brain injuries are limited. Significant advancement has been achieved in recognition, acute care and rehabilitative strategies of care. The improvement in handling of traumatic brain injuries cases has led to a great improvement and increase in the rate of surviving. The improvement in the rate of survival has led to the more survivors having significant lifetime motor, social and cognitive impairments. Currently, there is no treatment therapy of brain injuries due to trauma to help in salvaging, supporting, repairing or even replacing the tissues that are damaged because of the impact of trauma. Brain injury in children The main cause of disability as well as death in children in the United States is injuries to the brain due to trauma. Children from age zero (0) to four years forms a group with the greatest risk of getting traumatic injuries to the brain according to the center for disease control and prevention. On average, approximately sixty-two thousand children sustain injuries to their brain that requires hospitalization because of many causes that ranges from crashes from motor vehicle, falls and physical abuse among other causes. Approximately two thousand six hundred and eighty-five deaths, thirty-seven thousand hospitalizations and four hundred and thirty five thousand emergency department visits are seen among children aged from zero (0) to seven (7) years suffering from traumatic brain injuries (Rosenfeld et al., 2012). According to the CDC congressional report of 2004, on traumatic brain injury among children aged 0 to 7 years in the United States, approximately one thousand three hundred children in the United States experience fatal or severe brain trauma every year because of child abuse. Brain injuries due to trauma are becoming a major concern for children who are in preschool ages. Children who are of young age do go through rapid developmental changes that are vital during ages of two through to five years. These changes are important for their growth as well as maturity. The changes that occur during this age include cognition, social and behavioral development in addition to executive functioning. When a child sustains trauma to the brain, an injury caused can pose a great and a direct risk developmental deficits in any of the above areas during growth (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). Symptoms of brain injury in children The following can be seen in children who have experienced traumatic head injuries; physical impairments include problems in speech, vision, hearing, headaches, motor coordination, spasticity of muscles, paralysis, seizures disorders, balance difficulties and fatigue. Cognitive impairments include short-term memory deficits, impaired concentration, writing, reading problems and judgment difficulties. Emotional impairments include mood swings, denial, self-centeredness, anxiety, depression, lower self-esteem, sexual dysfunction, restlessness, lack of motivation and difficulty in controlling emotions. The symptoms listed in children may be evident depending on the degree of severity. Traumatic brain injury nature and the effect it causes varies from mild to severe. The course of recovery for a child who has suffering from brain trauma is hard to predict. The severity of the symptoms due to brain trauma may decrease in different degrees with early diagnosis and continuous therapeutic interventions. Symptoms do vary greatly depending on the severity, extent and the location of the brain that has suffered an injury. It is common to have impairments in one or more areas. Example the multiple impacts can be seen in disruptions in social and behaviors or cognitive functioning, physical abilities and communication deficits (Rosenfeld et al., 2012). The symptoms of brain injuries in adults are similar to the symptoms being experienced by children who have traumatic brain injury. However, there are some differences being noted in the functional impact caused by the trauma. Children cannot be said to be little adults; they are children. Their brain is not mature enough, and it is in the process of continuous development. Nonetheless, there is an assumption that has for long been used in that a child who has experienced traumatic brain injury will have a better recovery when compared to an adult suffering from the same impact. This was being attributed to the plasticity properties seen in a younger brain of the children. Research done recently has helped to shed light and disapprove the idea. A traumatic brain injury has more severe impact on a child when compared to the effect the same severity would cause on a mature adult. After an injury, the cognitive part impairment may not be that obvious immediately but its effect may be more apparent seen when a child develops and grows older. The child may face increased cognition difficulties and the social expectation for ne behaviors and learning of new and complex social behaviors may not apparently be realized with age due to delayed effects. The delayed effects of the trauma create lifetime challenges for living and learning new activities and behaviors for the children, their schools, their communities and their families. Children will respond differently to traumatic brain injuries, and some children may develop physical challenges for lifelong. In addition, many children who have traumatic brain trauma, experience the following as their greatest challenges: changes in their ability to think logically, learn new things and develop behaviors that are socially appropriate (Ornstein et al., 2009). Difficulties in getting information processed, impairment in judgment and reasoning level are some of the common deficits children experience after traumatic brain trauma. When a mature adult gets a brain injury, the deficits seen in children may only be evident several months after the injury. For a child, the deficits from the traumatic brain injury become apparent after years. School going children around four years to seven years that are often affected have different emotional as well as educational needs than before when they return to school. If their disability happened traumatically and suddenly, they still can recall who they were before the traumatic brain injury. Many emotional and social changes can be triggered in these children due to the brain injuries. The family of the child including his or her teachers can also recall how the child was before he or she experienced a traumatic injury to the brain. They have to accept the condition and adjust their expectations that they had of the child. Because of the injuries, the child has suffered in the brain, it is necessary for his or her parents to carefully plan the return of the child to school. Parents may decide to find out in advance about the special services in education being offered within the community. The information is always available with the teacher who is responsible for special education or the principle of the institution. The school has the responsibility of thoroughly evaluate the child. This evaluation of the child will help in the identification of the educational needs that the child requires. An individualized educational program is then created by the school together with the parents trying to address all the educational needs the child may require (Ganesalingam et al., 2008). Measuring rate in Nevada The rate of traumatic brain injuries in Nevada has decreased since 1980 by a remarkable twenty percent. This success can reflect some of the great efforts that were put forth to preventing such injuries to children. The rate of traumatic brain injuries hospitalization has declined considerably. This great decline only suggests that the proportion of individuals with less severe cases of brain injuries due to trauma can receive treatment in the emergency department and send home rather than being admitted in the hospitals. In this state, the protection and advocacy office has been working tirelessly to try to work with the people with disabilities including the individuals suffering from injuries on their brains due to trauma. The advocacy group tries to ensure that the victims of traumatic brain injury receive appropriate support and services. The services and programs that the advocacy groups are offering to the victims include entitlement to finance, educational programs, accessibility to housing, HealthCare, employment and transportation opportunities just like any other person. The legal groups are also working to ensure abuse is prevented as well as neglect and placing people with disabilities inappropriately. Since these injuries have a great impact in the population state involved as well as its economy, it then requires these states to respond with haste and incorporate with the public health community In order to prevent these injuries. Achieve the objectives the state has to work tirelessly in developing system of surveillance that will help in providing information pertaining the incident, risk factors to brain injuries and causes of traumatic injuries to the brain. This system will help the state as well as the country in developing, implementing and evaluating different programs that will help in preventing injuries to the brain cases due to trauma. Conclusion The data provided in the CDC report points out clearly that injuries to the brain due to trauma should be categorized a problem that should be dealt with by the public health department. The primary effort of the public health goal is to prevent trauma to the brain cases. To accomplish this goal, the public health department has to direct its attention to the major causes of the injuries that are external such as falls, violence and abuse. Effective response by the public health towards traumatic brain injuries requires programs that will help in minimizing adverse outcomes among the victims of the brain injuries. Research need to be conducted so that acute care and rehabilitation of the individuals with brain injuries can be improved. Research can also help to come up with best strategies to ensure the victims can access to appropriate services and care (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). Better information is pertaining the occurrence and the circumstances that surround the occurrence of traumatic brain injuries needs to be effective and should be targeting the prevention of brain injuries. The measures must be redefined for the outcomes of traumatic brain injuries so that the adverse outcomes can be identified. Since the child’s outcome depends on the severity of the trauma, it is better to relate the initial severity to the long-term outcome of the child. This will be important in the identifying children who would need more ongoing care and rehabilitation services. Such practices will be advantageous to the health practitioners and policy makers because these services will always be made to the community. References Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013). CDC - Statistics - Traumatic Brain Injury - Injury Center. USA.gov. Ganesalingam, K., Yeates, K. O., Ginn, M. S., Taylor, H. G., Dietrich, A., Nuss, K., & Wright, M. (2008). Family burden and parental distress following mild traumatic brain injury in children and its relationship to post-concussive symptoms. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 33, 621–629. doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsm133 Hamilton, N. A., & Keller, M. S. (2010). Mild traumatic brain injury in children. Seminars in Pediatric Surgery, 19, 271–278. doi:10.1053/j.sempedsurg.2010.06.005 Ornstein, T. J., Levin, H. S., Chen, S., Hanten, G., Ewing-Cobbs, L., Dennis, M., … Schachar, R. (2009). Performance monitoring in children following traumatic brain injury. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 50, 506–513. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.01997.x Rosenfeld, J. V, Maas, A. I., Bragge, P., Morganti-kossmann, M. C., Manley, G. T., & Gruen, R. L. (2012). Early management of severe traumatic brain injury. Lancet, 380, 1088–98. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60864-2  Read More