Boston Child Brain Injury Blog

A news brief out of a town in New York last week reported on a car crash that certainly didn’t play out in typical fashion.  There was no high speed chase, no drunk driving, and no foul play.

On the morning of August 10, a mother left her car in the driveway of their Mamaroneck home with her three young children, ages 2 and younger, inside of it.  She then went inside the house briefly and it was reported that the running car may have been shifted to reverse, causing the car to go backwards and into their garage door.  A witness in the neighborhood stated that the car first rolled in reverse, struck a tree, and then crashed into the garage door.

The mother said she heard a “loud noise” and went back outside to find the car against the garage door.  It was reported that the three children received medical treatment but the injuries were not reported. 

Mamaroneck police are currently investigating the sequence of events.

On a related note, it is a very uncommon occurrence that a car will continue to accelerate despite desperate attempts to stop it.  The top reason that your car may do this is if the floor mat gets in the way. 

Be sure to check your accelerator pedal to make sure it isn’t affected at all by the floor mat.  The mats have a tendency to shift if not properly fastened by hooks or especially if the mat hasn’t been made specifically for the make and model of your car. 

The pedal can get stuck if the mat is pushed up behind it, so check it whenever you have your car serviced and keep an eye if the mat shifts when you get in and out of the car.

Some vehicles come with automatic shut-off systems that can sense when the pedals do stick, protecting drivers and passengers from crashes that may have happened without the system.

We’ll have to wait and see what the Mamaroneck police conclude in their investigation, but whatever the problem was with the car, hopefully it will be the one and only incident.

Even though the three kids involved in the Mamaroneck crash were inside the car, check out our link on some helpful tips to prevent accidental injury in your own driveway if kids are outside of the car.

Protecting your kids is practically automatic in you, something that you don’t need to think about.  You want to make sure that nothing is wrong with your children and that they’re OK.  When your child falls down and skins his knee, you probably rush to comfort him, wash the cut off, put a Band-Aid on it, and seal it with a kiss.  While that response is formulaic for most tumbles and scrapes, a head injury in a child requires an overwhelming amount of care and monitoring. 

Head injuries actually refer to more than just that area of the body.  When this type of injury occurs, the neck and shoulder areas can be significantly impacted in addition to the skull, the brain, and the scalp. 

These injuries can happen whenever the skull hits an object with a lot of speed or force.  They can also occur as a result from whiplash, for example, which doesn’t result in the head hitting against something but rather where the brain itself could be seriously affected by the sheer force of a sudden movement.

Any direct injury to the head or after-effects of incidents on the brain, like whiplash, can cause considerable damage and must not be taken lightly. 

Mild head injury may or may not lead to the child losing consciousness.  If he or she does lose consciousness, then it’s very minimal and may only last a few minutes.  With a more moderate injury, something along the lines of a concussion, the child will have a number of symptoms that stem from this type of injury.  She’ll probably have a headache, experience dizziness, frustration and irritability, have trouble with her memory or focus in general, fatigue, and slower responses, among others.  These symptoms typically go away or at least decrease within a year from the time of the injury.

Your child’s pediatrician may refer you to a clinical neuropsychologist in order to assess the impact of the head injury and pave the best ways for treatment for your child.  These types of psychologists focus on the configuration of the brain and how behaviors and skills fit into that structure. 

If your child sustains a head injury, be sure to carefully observe any differences in behaviors or physical abilities and keep in close contact with his or her doctor.  Any information on changes that they may experience as a result of the injury can help in getting them the proper attention and treatment.

You can refer to this site for some more very helpful information on child head injuries.

A disastrous car crash in Omaha, Nebraska this week left a father dead and his sons badly injured when they were struck by an out-of-control driver. 

The father, Dr. Adam Smith, was driving his 8-year-old son to school, with his 2-year-old tagging along for the morning ride.  While heading to the older child’s first day of school, they were hit straight on by driver Jason Laware, who had—just prior to the crash—been weaving in and out of traffic erratically and had run through a red light.  Upon Laware hitting Smith’s car, a third car then struck Smith’s car again on the side.

Police are investigating the crash and have announced that Laware may have been intoxicated.  Once Laware has recovered from his injuries, charges will be brought against him.

Drivers who saw the crash immediately jumped in to try and help the father and the boys.  It was reported that the older son was asking if his dad was alive or not.  Smith was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency responders.  The boys were taken to the hospital for treatment of their severe injuries.  The younger boy broke both of his legs and suffered a skull fracture from the impact. 

While these types of news stories can be difficult to stomach, they provide an opportunity to share relevant information that could be of some help.

When it comes to kids involved in car crashes, there is a significant risk for them to sustain some type of head injury, ranging from a minor bump to serious brain damage.  Even though it’s a broad category, head injuries are listed as one of the top causes of death among children. 

World-renowned Children’s Hospital in Boston has a very helpful and educational page on their website that answers your questions about kids affected by this type of injury. 

In the above news story, the 2-year-old suffered a skull fracture as a result of the accident.  The most common of these fractures is when part of the skull bone breaks but it doesn’t cause the bone as a whole to move.  These fractures can often be a result of whiplash.  Another type of fracture can cause an indentation in the skull bone, which usually requires surgery. 

Head injuries in children are most commonly the effects of car accidents, where the children are either passengers or they are pedestrians who have been hit by a car.  Warmer months usually mean more accidents involving kids, as they tend to be outside more.  Depending on the severity of the injury, kids may end up suffering from impairments that affect their movement, sight, taste, hearing or with verbal communication. 

Some of the symptoms children can have when they have suffered a minor head injury are headaches, confusion, dizziness, unclear vision, fatigue, sensitivity to sounds and lights, and nausea. 

With more serious head injuries, the symptoms may be that the child has lost consciousness, a headache that just won’t go away, constant nausea, memory loss, speech impairment, off-balance, and even seizures.  For the complete and detailed listing of symptoms for both major and minor head injuries, please check out the Children’s Hospital link.

Parents can do their best to prevent head injuries by ensuring that their kids wear their helmets during play and to buckle up when in the car.

An article out this week reported on findings in a May 2010 study revealing how African-American and Hispanic children are at greater risk for drowning than any other group. 

The USA Swimming study’s The Constraints Impacting Minority Swimming Participation, Phase II questioned over 2000 kids and their parents in cities around the nation.  It was released a few months ago and highlighted distressing numbers when it comes to kids who aren’t able to swim.  70 percent of African Americans were found to have “low or no swim ability,” while Hispanic youth followed closely at 58 percent.  Caucasian numbers were at 40 percent.  All of these percentages are alarmingly high, regardless of what background the kids are.

- The Phase II study followed up on an introductory report in 2008, which had opened up important dialogue over swimming ability concerns among minority groups.  The latest study shared the primary reasons why kids just aren’t learning how to swim and what’s stopping them

- Parents who were surveyed had such an immense fear over their kids drowning that they remedied that fear by preventing their kids from swimming.  Other reasons listed about not knowing how to swim ranged from not having a swimming pool nearby, to lessons tending to be too pricey to pursue.  Still other reasons were a lack of parental support for their children to participate in swimming (it’s no basketball or baseball team), as well as the chlorine in pools is thought to be unhealthy for certain skin and hair types

 - Fear of drowning, though, was the leader of the concerns.  One of the questions asked in the study wanted to know if lessons were free, would parents then register their child for them.  The answer, surprisingly, was still no, solely due to the worry over drowning

Across the (diving) board, parents and kids alike shared these similar worries of the very real threat water holds over those who can’t swim at all or well enough. 

A common answer to the study’s question of how the kids learned to swim was that the child had taught himself.  Self-taught swimming treads dangerous water and poses obvious safety concerns.  40 percent of the kids in the study said that they could swim, while just under 20 percent had actually been in a swim class with a qualified teacher.

The question then becomes: How can swimming be accessible to everyone in a safe, educational, and encouraging way? 

A good answer that USA Swimming has is partnering with the Make a Splash campaign and together they set a goal of getting kids into swim lessons that either have a reduced fee or are free. 

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An informative yet disconcerting article out of Boston presented its readers with some stark details about drowning, centering around the theme that you may not even know someone is in crisis in the water until it’s too late.  Drowning is “quick and quiet,” making it all the more difficult to recognize that it’s even happening. 

Also, take a look at these very important tips so you can identify someone who’s drowning or even those swimmers who are just starting to show signs of struggle in the water.  Drowning can happen in under a minute and every second that you take to react can be a second too long.

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Lastly, if you have the option to enroll your son or daughter in swimming lessons, dive at the chance and do it today—because it just might save a life someday.

A dismal development has made headlines in the case of a baby boy’s death.  The mother, 23-year-old Christina Hancock, was arrested yesterday for beating her own 13-month-old son to death on May 12 at their home in Acton, Massachusetts.  She was charged with first-degree murder and is currently being held without bail.

An autopsy confirmed that Kaydn had suffered serious bodily harm and that he hemorrhaged and bled internally.  In addition to the fatal injuries that were discovered, one of Kaydn’s arms had been broken in March, yet the mother did not have her son medically treated.

Since the day of his death, Massachusetts State Police have been investigating the case, as they were suspicious of Hancock’s initial story.  She had told them that her son had fallen to the floor from his crib and injured his head.  Once the autopsy had been conducted, it was clear what Kaydn had traumatically experienced.

In the news story, it is pointed out that Hancock has another child, a 2-year-old daughter.  It is not clear if the state’s Department of Children and Families has taken custody of the toddler at this point.

The only consolation in this horrific story is that anyone who witnesses or suspects that a child is being abused or neglected can take action.  If you are concerned about the welfare of a child you may know, here are some ways to help: 

- You can contact your state’s social services or child welfare office.  Here’s a listing for those offices across the nation

- They will ask you questions in an intake to gather basic information on what you know about the child, the parent(s), or the guardian and what you have witnessed, heard, or suspected and who you believe is responsible for the maltreatment

- From here, the agency will conduct an investigation based on the concerns you reported and then carry out an assessment of the family

If we can report child abuse or neglect when we see it, maybe that will help in preventing another tragic case like this.

An article out of New Hampshire yesterday highlighted a truly appalling case of child abuse. 

25-year-old Jason Teixeira from Penacook is being held on $125,000 cash bail, charged with a felony of second-degree assault on his 9-month-old daughter, Mya.  He is accused of bruising his daughter by squeezing her stomach and face.  A misdemeanor charge was also brought against Teixeira for child endangerment because he didn’t get his daughter medically treated for her injuries.

From the news report, focusing his anger against women of all ages seemed to be a pattern in Teixeira’s life.  He is said to have been abusive towards his own mother, his current girlfriend, and another daughter of his who is now older.  The mother of the little girl, Michelle Milbury, stated in the article that she suspected Teixeira was abusing Mya since she was only a couple of months old, when she returned from a few visits with suspected injuries, such as faded bruising, cuts in the process of healing, and other markings.

Teixeira told police that he wasn’t able to remember what he did to his daughter because he was taking the medication Klonopin, which he termed a “memory eraser.”  He ultimately admitted to squeezing his daughter, something which he often couldn’t control. 

This past Saturday, Teixeira’s mother called police when she suspected her son had hurt Mya.  She reported seeing 10 bruises on Mya’s face as well as a cut in the eye area.  Additionally, she told them the baby was wearing a long-sleeved shirt which she was suspicious of, due to the summer weather (the shirt was later determined to hide Mya’s bruises).  Police were able to trace Teixeira to Portsmouth through his cellphone and area police found Teixeira with the girlfriend, Mary Lucas.  Police confirmed bruises on Mya’s face.  

Teixeira’s reasoning to police for not having his daughter seen at the hospital was that he didn’t want to get in trouble.  Police then had the baby taken to a local hospital for an exam and treatment. 

It was confirmed at the hospital that Mya had bruises on her stomach that were different in coloration, meaning the bruises were in several stages of healing.  She had blood that was dried in her nose, which would have resulted from the bruising to her face.  Doctors reported that Mya’s liver was impacted by “secondary to blunt trauma.”

Mya’s injuries were reflective of abuse and the latest injuries occurred within the last couple of days.

Teixeira admitted to police he would squeeze Mya very hard in order to get her to stop crying.  Police reported Teixeira cried while confessing to the abuse he inflicted on his daughter, telling them his medications needed to be put in order. 

When Teixeira picked Mya up for his visit on 7/27, Milbury stated Mya didn’t have any bruising. 

The Division of Children, Youth and Families is currently investigating the case.

Over this past weekend, a toddler fell off a porch that was two stories up at a home in Lynn, Massachusetts.  The boy, just under two years old, is currently at a hospital in Boston with serious, life-threatening injuries. 

Lynn Police responded to the scene on Sunday afternoon and found the toddler, whose name was not released publicly, in the driveway after having fallen about 15 feet.  The boy was stabilized on the scene and readied for transport to an area hospital. 

There is a licensed day care at the address where the fall occurred, but the name of the facility is not known at this time.  It also has not been confirmed that the boy lived there.  An investigation is currently underway by Lynn Police as well as the Massachusetts State Police. 

It isn’t clear yet what the circumstances were and how the child ended up falling, but it raises concern over young children gaining access to either windows or landings where they could potentially fall.

To combat these concerns, here are some essential tips on keeping your kids safe from the danger of open windows. 

- Constant supervision of your child around windows is the key way to keep your son or daughter from accidentally falling out of them.

- Make sure the windows are locked when you don’t have them open and keep all stools, chairs, and anything else your child could climb on away from the walls where windows are.

- Window guards or bars are an excellent layer of protection between your child and the outside.  They typically are aluminum or steel and can tolerate about 150 pounds of pressure.

- Having a screen in the window frame should not take the place of window bars because screens will not prevent children from falling out of the window, no matter their age.

The warm weather isn’t going anywhere fast and this means windows will still be open to let fresh air in or to accomodate fans and air conditioners.  Take some time today to review the safety of your windows for the sake of your kids.

Less than a couple of weeks before the Lynn boy’s accident, a 20-month-old Derry girl suffered serious injury after falling down from a home window on July 26th.

Children, especially infants, are very vulnerable to injuries. Even minor injuries can greatly influence children’s physical and mental health. Protecting children from harm is an essential job for parents, as well as for people who take care of them while their parents are away, so please make sure your young child is properly supervised and keep our other safety tips regarding windows in mind.

While Lowell police and other Massachusetts authorities continue with their investigation, some progress has been made in the case of an infant who was significantly burned by scalding water while he was given a bath last week.

It was reported that the boyfriend of 11-month-old Ivan Yonn’s mother has been arrested and charged with assault and battery on a child.  27-year-old Seiha Vorn, who is not the father of the boy, was charged on Friday and was held without bail over this past weekend.  He will be arraigned in Lowell District Court today.

Ivan is currently at a Boston area hospital for treatment of 2^nd degree burns on more than half of his body. 

The Lowell Deputy Police Superintendent stated that “we will do everything within our authority to see that the child’s injuries are fully investigated and all of our questions are answered.”

Let’s hope those questions can be answered soon.

Every time you get in your car, you know almost automatically to put your seatbelt on.  But every time you put your infant into his car seat, there are more steps to follow than just hearing that click.

Here are some basic guidelines to follow in setting up and maintaining your baby’s car seat.

- The longer you keep your baby in a rear-facing seat in a back seat of the car, the longer she will stay safe.     

- When your infant reaches the maximum weight and height for the seat (which could range from 20-40 pounds depending on the make), it’s time to upgrade to a forward-facing seat.  Your child could be nearing her toddler years while still in a rear-facing seat, but it is the most secure way for babies to travel.

- It may sound unlikely, but infant car seats expire at some point.  It typically is six years from when it was made and you can find this out either from the seat itself or by getting in touch with the company who made it.

- It’s recommended to keep your infant’s seat tilted back to 45 degrees but not beyond that as your baby’s breathing could become constricted if it’s any lower.

- The shoulder and leg straps in the seat must be as close to your baby’s body as possible without being too tight.  If the straps aren’t taut enough, your baby will have more room to move and, therefore, be injured if there were a car accident.

- Shoulder straps should be just that: at or just below your infant’s shoulders.  The clip that meets across the chest should be pushed up to the armpit area.

- Your baby’s seat shouldn’t be able to move more than an inch in any direction, to the side or front and back.  Test the seat’s steadiness before you put your baby in it.

-Always buy new if you aren’t 100% sure of the seat’s history.

- The cloth in car seats has to pass rigorous fire safety testing, so don’t use items that are passed on to you if it’s not for the same make of the car seat you have.  Toys hanging from the car seat handle can cause injury to your child during a car crash, so try to avoid them when possible.

- Keep in mind where the airbags in your car are located.  Ensure your baby’s seat is never in the way of an airbag’s path.

For additional information about infant car seats, as well as toddler car seats and booster seats, check out this great educational website. 

Lastly, if you aren’t sure that your infant’s car seat is secured properly, don’t wait for an accident to prove it.  You can easily search for car seat inspection locations in your area to make sure your baby on board will be safe.

An alarming article out today raises fundamental concerns over infant safety in the bathtub at home.

An 11-month-old boy from Lowell, Massachusetts, was severely burned on more than half of his body by scalding bathwater on the morning of August 4, leading to the questioning of the mother and her boyfriend by local authorities.  The mother’s name was not released. 

The boy, Ivan Yonn, is currently listed in critical condition at a Boston area hospital with 60% of his body covered in second-degree burns.

The mother’s boyfriend, Sonny, was giving the boy a bath and, once finished, the mother took over to dry Ivan off.  It was at this point that the mother reported Ivan’s skin coming off, attached to the towel being used to dry him. 

The couple’s roommate reported that both the mother and boyfriend began yelling and were in a panic, with Ivan just beginning to cry.  His skin was reported to have been “red, blistered and burned” from the chest down.  A call for help had not been made by the mother or Sonny, leaving the roommate to call 911 for them, who also attempted to pour cold water on Ivan’s worsening burns. 

It was reported that Sonny gives Ivan a bath every day.  The roommate said that recently there has been a leak from the hot water faucet into the tub.

The Family Services Unit of the Lowell Police Department are actively investigating this case, searching for answers as to how the boy could have been so badly burned without any notice until it was too late.                                   

This article provides an opportunity to present essential information on the topic of infant safety in the bathtub.

One of the first tips is to reset your hot water heater to 120F or lower.  

You can also set up devices to block against scalding water on both faucets and showerheads in the tub.  Ensure that the water is not hot to the touch—if it is, you must wait for it to cool or add cold water to the tub to balance the temperature. 

If your young child gets burned from hot water by either the faucet while washing his hands or in tub while she’s taking a bath, this information will be able to help you. 

The most common types of burns that kids get are from scalds, which can be anything from bath water to cooking oil crackling over a pan’s edge.  Your infant’s skin is much thinner than yours, meaning that it doesn’t take much for them to get a significant burn.

Make sure your infant isn’t at risk for burns by following these tips for a safer home.