Because hits to the head are common among toddlers, and because the manifestations of concussions are different in them, a team from CHU Sainte-Justine is launching a website to better detect and treat hits to the head in children. 0 to 8 years old.
The online initiative is called COCO – for Communication-Concussion – and is aimed at parents, educators and teachers as well as health professionals. In short, to all adults who gravitate around little ones.
“We want to act as spokespersons for these young children, who cannot always communicate their states to others, because they do not necessarily have the words and concepts to verbalize them,” explains neuropsychologist Miriam Beauchamp, researcher at the Azrieli Research Center at CHU Sainte-Justine and professor at the University of Montreal.
In research, and in society in general, emphasis is placed on concussions suffered by athletes in contact sports, underlines Miriam Beauchamp. It is not well known, but children under the age of 6 are almost twice as likely to suffer a concussion as older children. And the consequences are the same at 3 years old as at 9, 12 or 16 years old.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFACON, THE PRESS
Miriam Beauchamp, neuropsychologist
“Toddlers are at high risk of falling, on stairs, from household furniture, from changing tables, from their parents’ arms…” lists Miriam Beauchamp.
COCO brings together a set of free tools to facilitate screening, treatment and recovery, but also to democratize the particular manifestations of brain commissions in early childhood, which are more behavioral: the child is irritable, seeks comfort, cries more, move more slowly, rub your head…
Why is it important to screen for concussions at this age?
“There are several things,” replies Miriam Beauchamp, firstly knowing how to spot the signals of alternation which require immediate medical evaluation (loss of consciousness, repeated vomiting, extreme confusion, etc.)
In most cases, children recover from their concussion over time, agrees the neuropsychologist, but that does not mean that there is nothing to do to support them in their recovery. When we intervene early, we reduce the risk of persistent symptoms appearing.
“What we observed is that these young children have more behavioral difficulties in the medium term, sometimes even several months after a concussion,” explains Miriam Beauchamp. And we made the following observation: it’s probably because we don’t attribute the behavioral changes to the injury. For example, if the child cries a lot, if he is irritable or more oppositional, adults can easily blame all of this on the terrible 2.”
Tools
In collaboration with a daycare service, Miriam Beauchamp’s team developed an “early childhood detection tool”, easy to print. The document does not allow a diagnosis to be made, notes the researcher, but it supports adults in their decision-making and guides them through the steps to follow.
Also available on the website is an “educational kit” intended for teaching staff, students and students in childhood education, and staff working with young children.
Finally, to support healthcare workers, the team prepared the “REACTIONS-48” tool, an inventory that allows symptoms to be documented. It can be completed by a parent, a significant adult or a member of healthcare personnel.
Visit the COCO website