Each year millions of children are seriously injured. Frequently these injuries are in context of a traumatic event such as a shooting, a beating or a car accident High percentages of children that are exposed to trauma develop post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) which have serious emotional and physical symptoms. Despite this, very little is known about how these problems develop and how to prevent or treat them. Understanding the development of these trauma-related problems could lead to early intervention and prevention.

In order to examine some of the issues related to the development and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorders in children, the ChildTrauma Programs has been an active collaborator in the Pediatric Injury Center (PIC) located in Ben Taub Hospital, a large public hospital in Houston. Ben Taub is a major trauma center, serving hundreds of severely injured children each year.

This multidisciplinary Center follows children immediately after their injury and admission to the hospital and then periodically monitors the physical, academic, social and emotional progress of the child for the next two years. This longitudinal, multidisciplinary model provides proactive and coordinated care of the child.

Over three hundred children have been followed in the PIC. Initial studies by ChildTrauma clinicians with the PIC Center has demonstrated that at one year following the initial traumatic event, over fifty percent of the children have developed PTSD. This demonstration of a clear neurophysiological result of a traumatic event has important implications for the approach to the injured child. Studies are underway to examine factors which make a child more vulnerable or more resistant to the development of PTSD following a trauma. Early intervention and proactive psychoeducational approaches will be examined at this innovative Center as well.