Educational skills: Long-term outcome and predictors following paediatric traumatic brain injury

Abstract

Given that reading, spelling and arithmetic skills are acquired through childhood, their development may be compromised following a childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI). The present study examined educational skills (reading accuracy, spelling and arithmetic) at a mean follow-up interval of 6.8 years post-injury in children who had sustained a mild, moderate, or severe TBI at two ages: ‘Young’ (age at injury: 3–7 years, n = 48) and ‘Old’: (age at injury: 8–12 years, n = 36). Comparisons between the young and old TBI groups resulted in inconsistent findings. While a dose-response relationship for severity was evident for the young group, this was not always the case for the old group. Significant predictors of outcome included both severity and acute intellectual function.

Keywords:

• Head injury
• Children
• Literacy
• Arithmetic
• Recovery

Financial support, via successful grants, was provided by the Research Foundation, Royal Children's Hospital and the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia. No conflict of interest was associated with this research.