Vidoe files on a victim of shaken baby syndrome

Adults at risk for committing abusive acts include adults with poor coping skills, unrealistic expectations, substance abuse, former victims of abuse and adults with mental health problems. Environmental factors that usually culminate in abusive events include social isolation, dysfunctional family characteristics and socio-economic burdens. However, SBS may occur in any setting and it is important to know the signs and symptoms that may be present in an infant or child that may be a victim of SBS.

What are the signs and symptoms of SBS? The common signs and symptoms of SBS include poor feeding, failure to thrive, vomiting, weakness, irritability, a change in overall muscle tone, decreased alertness, seizures, pale skin color, cool skin temperature, difficulty breathing and sudden respiratory or cardiac arrest. The fontanelles may be swollen depending on the age of the infant.

It is important to remember that there may be no bruising, scrapes or outward physical signs of trauma. ALL are left facing the challenge of moving forward. Listed below are the families of the victims of SBS who courageously share their stories of joy, heartbreak and hope.

Click the buttons to meet them and discover their journeys. That was a devastating and truly life changing day for Austin and our entire family. The days and weeks to follow were a blur. It was, and still is today, hard to imagine and understand the evil that had struck our family. Prior to Austin being shaken he was a walking, talking, playing two-year-old.

He was able to use two hands to play with his trucks and cars; he watched cartoons on Saturday mornings snuggled up in my lap. He was happy and loved. He was a normal, typically developing toddler. Following his abuse, he spent two and a half weeks in a coma at Memorial Hospital in South Bend. His brain swelled, cutting off oxygen and blood flow to his young and fragile brain. They placed a cerebral fluid drain and pressure monitor to relieve the pressure that was building.

They did CAT Scans regularly to monitor the damage. By the grace of God, he began to show improvement, he was taken off of life support just before Christmas as he regained consciousness. By the grace of God, he began to show improvement. It heavily affects the left side of his body.

I was blessed to work for a family owned company that never questioned the time off I took to travel back and forth from Indianapolis to be there with Austin, to talk to the doctors, nurses and therapists so I could learn as much as possible about his medical condition and his future needs; or while we took foster parenting classes in record time, so we could be certified when he was released from the hospital on March 16, We just missed that date by two weeks, so Austin was placed with a different foster family while we awaited the official word from the State.

He also had to learn to compensate for the deficiencies his body now had from the brain injury. Austin had to learn to talk, walk, eat, play and even laugh again.

He had to build strength and confidence in his every day abilities. He was using a wheelchair that others had to push because he only had use of one hand and one leg. They had to fit both of his feet and legs with orthotic braces to help stabilize his gait when he was attempting to learn to walk again. He had a helmet to protect his healing brain. He had a feeding tube placed while he was in his coma so they could keep his body nourished.

Over the years, Austin has had numerous orthopedic surgeries to help him compensate and or overcome his physical challenges. He has developed permanent hamstring pulls in both legs, simultaneously, causing extreme pain every time he attempted to stand, let alone walk.

Thus, he had bilateral hamstring lengthening surgery two years ago. He has fallen down stairs and broken his right arm, his only useful arm. He struggles to maintain balance and has tripped and broken his left arm.

He has peripheral blindness in his left eye, he sees nothing from the left until it is nearly dead centering in front of him; this has caused him to have many collisions with wall corners and doors over the years, but he has also learned to adapt and overcome. He is 17 years old now, a junior in functional skills special education classes. He struggles every day with depression and extreme anxiety that are common with traumatic brain injuries. Without medication, he would have non-stop seizures disrupting his life and potentially causing irreparable harm to his already damaged brain.

He does not drive a car like his typically developing peers, and he can barely walk. He has typically developing peers who care about him, who have taken it upon themselves to be his friend and mentor within the schools he has attended. Austin has a way of breaking down the walls people put up when someone who is different is around. He makes new friends all over town, every day, with his infectious smile and constant happiness. He just knows how to be happy and loving. I have taken him to the driving range and taught him to hit golf balls with one hand, he rides the on back of my motorcycle, he plays Xbox and Wii, and can manage an iPad and computer as well as anyone.

He cannot read or write, but can memorize movies line for line and scene for scene after only seeing the movie two or three times. Not a day passes that I am not reminded of that fateful day 15 years ago. There is no closure for Austin or our entire family, there is only moving on and making an effort to do good with the tragedy at hand. My son Grayson was born on June 23, He came into the world happy, healthy, and beautiful.

The summer went by fast and before I knew it my maternity leave was over and I had to return to work. The oldest was 9 at the time, and Grayson was our youngest at 8 weeks old. The presence of the violence Grayson was enduring arrived the day after my first shift back to work. I was changing his diaper and when I lifted his leg to slide the diaper underneath him he let out a blood curdling scream. I was startled, confused, and clearly concerned.

There were no marks, no bruises, nothing. Grayson had an appointment already scheduled for the next day. The doctor did his two month well child exam and Grayson, he looked amazing. He was growing at a healthy rate, and despite his spit up problems, he was gaining weight well.

I told her about his reaction to me grabbing his leg during the diaper change, and she examined him. Again, he let out a blood curdling scream when she moved his leg. Remarkably, Kyra is overcoming the odds and developing on track. Taylor was a day shy of turning two months old when she was tragically shaken by her biological father. By that night, over half her brain would die. Miraculously, Taylor survived those long three weeks in hospital.

Today, Taylor has a smile that is contagious to all around her and has a special bond with her younger brother, but Taylor will never live on her own, never drive or ever get married. National Resources. Victims of Crime These links will lead to national crime victims services that are available to victims of crimes and their caretakers.

State Specific Resources. Stories from Victims of SBS. Meet Austin. Read More. Meet Grayson. Meet Kyra.