Language Phenotyping in Young Children With Concussion

Abstract

Mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBIs) are typically viewed as those that do not result in prolonged periods of unconsciousness. Concussions, or the mildest form of brain injury, are the most prevalent in young children. Presently no single framework or screening assessment measure exists for language in young children. In this study, children who had recently experienced a concussion were compared with children who had no history of head injury on a battery of linguistic and cognitive-linguistic tasks. Group differences in both lexical-and discourse-level skills were identified, as well as domain-general cognitive skills. Significant differences were noted in category identification, phonological working memory, grammaticality judgment, segregation and selective attention to spoken instructions in the presence of a distractor, visually recognizing spoken targets presented in a short story, and visual non-verbal problem solving, all with moderate effect sizes. This research will inform classroom and in-home accommodations to assist children during the period of recovery.