Brain injury and expectations for recovery

Neuropsychologist Peter Stavinoha, PhD, shares advice for parents on how long symptoms can last following a brain injury and what to expect in terms of recovering from the brain injury
Brain Injuries In Children And Expectations For Recovery
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Brain injury and expectations for recovery

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If a child has a brain injury, certainly parents are concerned about how well and how extensively and how completely that child is going to recover. As a brain injury specialist, we always think of categories of brain injury being mild, moderate, and severe. For children who have a mild injury, we usually think of the window of recovery as maybe 3, 4 months, that symptoms will show themselves after that time period. A lot of times the recovery is largely complete. However, if a child has a moderate or severe injury, even after 6 months or a year, there may continue to be longer lasting, persisting kinds of symptoms, and parents need to be aware that some of those may end up being permanent for the child. So even though they may get all the right therapies and that there might still be some lingering issues for that child that simply need to be managed after that recovery window has closed.

Neuropsychologist Peter Stavinoha, PhD, shares advice for parents on how long symptoms can last following a brain injury and what to expect in terms of recovering from the brain injury

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Peter Stavinoha, PhD

Neuropsychologist

Peter L. Stavinoha, PhD, ABPP, is a board certified clinical neuropsychologist in Dallas, Texas.  He directs the Neuropsychology Service at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas and he is Professor in Psychology/Psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He was named Distinguished Psychologist for 2005 by the Dallas Psychological Association. Dr. Stavinoha specializes in the cognitive, behavioral, and emotional aspects of developmental disabilities and acquired brain injury in children. As a general parenting expert, he is regularly interviewed in the media, Dallas morning television, Parents and Parenting Magazines, and numerous parenting blogs. Together with Sara Bridget Au, he is co-author of Stress-Free Potty Training. He has also authored several chapters in scholarly texts on subjects ranging from pediatric concussion to brain tumors in children. Dr. Stavinoha received a BA in Psychology from the University of Notre Dame and a PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Stavinoha completed a residency in Clinical Neuropsychology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and is a member of the American Psychological Association, the International Neuropsychological Society, and the National Academy of Neuropsychology. Dr. Stavinoha has a 16-year old son named Joe.

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Transcription: 
If a child has a brain injury, certainly parents are concerned about how well and how extensively and how completely that child is going to recover. As a brain injury specialist, we always think of categories of brain injury being mild, moderate, and severe. For children who have a mild injury, we usually think of the window of recovery as maybe 3, 4 months, that symptoms will show themselves after that time period. A lot of times the recovery is largely complete. However, if a child has a moderate or severe injury, even after 6 months or a year, there may continue to be longer lasting, persisting kinds of symptoms, and parents need to be aware that some of those may end up being permanent for the child. So even though they may get all the right therapies and that there might still be some lingering issues for that child that simply need to be managed after that recovery window has closed.