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Cerebral Palsy - Back to News Menu
Illinois to increase education about Shaken Baby Syndrome
BY JAYNE MATTHEWS
News-Democrat - June 23, 2005 - Taylor Rogers of Edwardsville was a healthy baby in 1999. Now 6 years old, she barely sees and can't walk, swallow or understand what she hears.
Taylor has cerebral palsy because her father shook her violently to stop her crying when she was 11 months old. Her condition is called Shaken Baby Syndrome.
"Crying is the No. 1 trigger of Shaken Baby Syndrome. Parents say 'I just wanted to stop the crying,'" said Linda Gilkerson, a professor of infant mental health at the Erikson Institute, a graduate school for child-development studies in Chicago.
The Illinois House and Senate recently passed a law requiring the state Department of Public Health to provide educational videos and written materials on Shaken Baby Syndrome to hospitals and educators.
"I have been told by the governor that he will sign this important piece of legislation into law very soon," state Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Collinsville, said Thursday during a press conference at Anderson Hospital in Maryville. "This bill will help prevent life-altering injuries to the most defenseless among us, and it is vital that this bill becomes law."
The educational program also will include tips for parents on how to deal with anger and frustration. Anderson is one of many hospitals in the state that have signed on to use the program.
"By informing those who care for children about the dangers of Shaken Baby syndrome, we hope to reduce the number of these injuries and help all families raise happy, healthy babies," state Sen. Bill Haine, D-Alton, said.
Taylor now lives with a great-aunt, Debbie Dycus, who is devoted to her full-time care.
Dycus' work with Taylor also prompted her, along with four other women from four states, to found the National Shaken Baby Coalition.
Dycus said Wednesday that families caring for a shaken baby often do not know what to expect from a brain that functions abnormally.
"You have to have emotional support," Dycus said. "We're there to offer whatever we can offer."
Dycus said she was surprised and confused when Taylor, at age 2, showed signs of puberty. Taylor now receives a monthly hormone shot to delay menstruation and other body changes until her teens.
The state pays Dycus "just enough for us to get by on," to care for Taylor. Taylor is eligible for Medicaid, but Dycus has no health insurance.
"There's no opportunity for me to go outside the home to work," she said.
Taylor's mother has little involvement in her life. Her father, Torrance "Tyrone" Rogers, now 24, is in prison for injuring her. He will be paroled in July 2007.
At 18, Rogers fit the profile of the majority of baby shakers: a male parent or mother's boyfriend between the ages of 18 and 25 who is trying to stop a baby from crying, according to research by Dycus' coalition.
Shaken Baby Syndrome is fatal to about 20 percent of its victims. About 60 percent will have lifelong disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, paralysis, epilepsy, blindness, deafness and learning and behavior disorders.
More information is available from the coalition's Web site at www.shakenbabycoalition.org.
Contact Jayne Matthews at jmatthews@bnd.com or 345-7822 ext. 25.
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