Childhood head injury: developmental and recovery variables

Childhood head injuries differ from adult head injuries in some significant respects.

They occur against a background of ongoing physical and cognitive development.

Cognitive capacities often change with time post-injury.

But for children changes are affected by two processes of functional plasticity, one concerned with recovery, one with development.

The impact of the injury is moderated by age/developmental stage.

In recent years there has been a new focus on the longitudinal comparison of children post-injury with appropriate control groups.

This special issue offers an overview of cutting-edge approaches to the analysis of childhood head injury.