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TBI Damages the Social Lives of Children Long After Injury

Neuropsychologist Shawn Gale, Ph.D. of Brigham Young University has just published a study of children three years after each one had suffered a frontal lobe TBI. He found that impairment of short term memory and cognitive processing speed made it very difficult for these children to carry on normal social conversation and social relationships. Although they looked fine these children ended up “loners” because they could not keep up with other children their age.

The study is available in the 4/10/14 issue of the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation. Dr. Gale says it is very important to have children tested for these cognitive deficiencies and provided with cognitive therapy if they have them. A radiological correlate of this injury is a decrease in the thickness of the outer layer of the brain called the cerebral cortex.