
If your child has ever taken a knock to the head on the playing field, a new study has some reassuring news: There’s no evidence that a concussion shaves points from a kid’s IQ. Researchers found that compared with children and teens who’d suffered broken bones or sprained ankles, those with a recent concussion did just as well on IQ tests up to three months after the head injury. The study — published July 17 in Pediatrics — should ease the worries of many parents, as well as young people who’ve taken a knock to the head in sports, play or accidents. They often ask whether the injury will dull their mental sharpness, noted lead researcher Ashley Ware, an assistant professor of psychology at Georgia State University. “This study is good news,” she said. Concussions are a type of traumatic brain injury, occurring when the brain gets jostled around in the skull. That can cause various immediate symptoms, such as headache, confusion, dizziness and a general sense of feeling unwell. It’s well known that more severe brain trauma can harm kids’ long-term intellectual functioning, but studies have come to mixed conclusions when it comes to concussions. Those studies, however, have been hampered by various shortcomings, Ware said. Many have been small, or compared concussed kids with peers who were perfectly healthy. That’s an issue because… read on > read on >