Do you know the signs of concussion?

I remember it like a film on instant replay, over and over again. Her blonde hair streaked with blonde, her blue dress, both flying as she ran around a blind corner–straight into me. I even remember her name. I must have been in first or second grade, prone to melodrama. We collided and the back of my head hit the asphalt path. Hard. An hour later, I didn’t feel well. I was sick to my stomach, sleepy and dizzy, and only wanted to curl up in a bean bag and be still. It took my teachers a while to believe me, that I wasn’t just being dramatic or stubborn. Then they connected the way I was acting with the fact that I’d smacked my head on the pavement, and called my parents.

We had to stop twice on the way to the hospital so I could throw up.

The MRI showed nothing serious, just a mild concussion, and my parents spent a long, anxious night waking me up every hour. A boy in New York City was beaten on the head repeatedly by another boy, thirteen years old, as he played basketball. He went home, went to bed, and was later brought to the hospital, bleeding from his nose and mouth. He died. Perhaps, if this boy’s parents had known the warning signs of a head injury, they could have saved him.

But knowing the signs (sensitivity to light, headache, dizziness, nausea) don’t do any good if your child doesn’t tell you what’s going on. Make sure your children know how important it is to be honest about what happened, especially if they aren’t feeling well after a fight. Because if they don’t tell you they got into a fight in the first place, you won’t know to suspect anything more serious than a stomach bug.

Kid’s Health has a good page on concussions, and they list the following symptoms as indicative of a possible concussion:

“seeing stars” and feeling dazed, dizzy, or light-headed
trouble remembering things, such as what happened directly before and after the injury occurred (this can happen even with mild concussions)
nausea or vomiting
headaches
blurred vision and sensitivity to light
slurred speech or saying things that don’t make sense
difficulty concentrating, thinking, or making decisions
difficulty with coordination or balance (such as being unable to catch a ball or other easy tasks)
feeling anxious or irritable for no apparent reason
feeling overly tired