Stroke in children (from birth to age 18) occurs infrequently, between 4.6 and 6.4 per 100,000 depending on the study. The most common cause of stroke in adolescents (age 10-14) is damage to a blood vessel. Sometimes that can be caused by trauma, like a car accident, or trauma to the neck that injures one of the blood vessels going to the brain. Therapy Needs of Adolescent Survivors Children’s brains are developing and may be more plastic than those of adults, so therapy is helpful — and as with adult survivors, more is better.
Motivating them to do their therapy, however, may be a challenge. Children, particularly in the preteen, teenage population, struggle with just wanting to be normal. They may not want to do their therapy or take their medicines because they don’t see other children doing those things, even though therapy helps them get better. That is a common challenge in this…
