Thinking Concussions, Thinking, and Our Kids Cows say moo Continued from page 16 —————————————————————–––––––––———— Continued from page 15 —————————————————————–––––––––———— fessional teams, it is not common practice for minor leagues or schools to perform baseline testing. Although existing re- search on the cognitive outcomes following concussion is con- troversial due to poor methodologies, the acute symptoms have a definite impact on academic and psychosocial func- tioning in children. Somatic symptoms (e.g., headache and light or noise sensitivity) interfere with efficient information processing and concentration, and problems with attention, memory, and reaction time impact their ability to learn prop- erly. iii Even one year later, individuals with concussion still had lower scores on thinking and memory tests and demon- strated evidence of brain damage on diffusion tensor imaging. iv Thus, acquiring a concussion in childhood can have long-standing cognitive effects. This highlights the need for policy changes across athletic organizations and implementation of concussion management strategies at all levels of play. Every team should use baseline testing and return-to-play protocols for any player who is sus- pected of a concussion. Since a child’s primary activities in- volve learning, return-to-learn protocols have been developed and should be followed. Children with concussive symptoms typically struggle with school due to their somatic and cogni- tive complaints, often missing days or weeks as a result. The Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation suggests that concussed children should begin treatment with complete cognitive and physical rest for at least 24 hours, followed by a gradual return of academic-related activities as tolerated v . Consequently, re- turn-to-learn protocols should be individually tailored. Only once the child is able to function properly in the classroom should the return-to-play protocol begin. If during recovery symptoms return, physical activity should stop and the child should only fully engage in sport when symptom-free. In conjunction with the release of these concussion guide- lines v , the Ontario Ministry of Education has mandated that all school boards develop concussion policies to be imple- mented by February 2015. The policy must include procedures for concussion awareness, prevention, and identification, as well as management procedures for a diagnosed concussion vi . By implementing these policies, students and parents will learn about the signs, symptoms, and effects of concussion, which will assist with recognition and proper treatment. Ad- ditionally, the use of these guidelines in schools will reinforce changes to policies and practices in community athletic organ- izations. This type of statute is unprecedented in Canada and will go a long way toward protecting children from the prob- lems associated with unmanaged concussions. Most U.S. states have enacted concussion legislation and it is time that all provinces in Canada follow suit. Research has also shown that inductive reasoning emerges during the infancy years. Infants as young as 9-months of age show basic inductive reasoning abilities (Baldwin et al., 1993; McDonough & Mandler, 1998). For example, 9- to 14-month- olds generalize properties to members of the same broad cat- egory, but not beyond that category. In these studies, infants extended the property of drinking to diverse members of the animal category, but not to members of the vehicle domain (Mandler & McDonough, 1996, 1998; McDonough & Man- dler, 1998). Furthermore, like preschoolers, infants will use shared perceptual features to guide their inferences when no other information is provided (Baldwin et al., 1993; Graham & Diesendruck, 2010; Graham, Kilbreath, & Welder, 2004). However, 13- to 22-month-olds will also infer that objects that are named with the same count noun label shared nonobvious properties, even when they do not look similar (Keates & Gra- ham, 2008; Welder & Graham, 2001). Moreover, by 15- months of age, infants also understand that distinct count nouns signal different category membership, and will appro- priately inhibit their generalizations (Graham et al., 2013). Fi- nally, similar to preschoolers, infants are also selective in the type of labels that they use to guide their inferences, privileg- ing conventional category markers (i.e., count nouns) over other types of labels (e.g., adjectives; Keates & Graham, 2008). Together, this body of research suggests that young chil- dren have sophisticated inductive reasoning abilities, as they appropriately adjust their inferences depending on the cues that are available. More importantly, these investigations have laid the foundation for understanding more complex types of reasoning. For example, on a daily basis, we make inferences about someone’s behaviour or characteristics, or the outcome of a situation based on our previous experiences. That is, we often have expectations about the characteristics of certain groups (e.g., girls like pink) and generalize this information to new individuals that are members of that group. However, generalizations in the social domain can have undesirable con- sequences, and may result in stereotyping and disregard for individual differences within groups. By understanding the nature and development of children’s early reasoning, we can begin to apply that knowledge to more complex processes, such as how children make social inferences, in an attempt to prevent overgeneralization of properties or characteristics. For a complete list of references, please go to www.cpa.ca/psynopsis For a complete list of references, please go to www.cpa.ca/psynopsis Table des matières Psynopsis, le Magazine des psychologues du Canada – Winter 2015 – 17