Possible brain injury events and symptoms in elementary school children

Karen Hux, Rose Dymacek, Carrie Childers

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Primary objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of potential mild brain injury incidents accompanied by behavioural changes in a non-clinical population of elementary school-aged children. The researchers also examined data regarding the occurrence of possible brain injuries among regular vs special education students. Research design: Survey study. Methods and procedures: The researchers distributed questionnaires through which parents or guardians of 692 first-to-fifth grade students provided information about possible brain injury incidents and associated behavioural changes. Main outcomes and results: Findings suggest that as many as one-third of children experience one or more incidents potentially resulting in brain injury before completing elementary school. Despite this, only 7.66% of the sample received positive screen results because of behavioural changes associated with a potential incident. None of the 53 children with positive screens were receiving special education services through the traumatic brain injury category of IDEA at the time of the screening. Positive screens were more common among students verified for special education than those enrolled in regular education. Specifically, 25.40% of positive screen results were for children identified with a disability warranting special education services; in contrast, only 5.90% of regular education students received positive screen results.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1348-1355
Number of pages8
JournalBrain Injury
Volume27
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - 2013

Keywords

  • Assessment
  • Children
  • Concussion
  • Mild brain injury

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neuroscience (miscellaneous)
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Clinical Neurology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Possible brain injury events and symptoms in elementary school children'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this