TODDLER STRUGGLES TO OVERCOME EFFECTS OF SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME

DECATUR, Ill. -- Kristina Simmons' outgoing personality and angelic face mask the fact that she's is not like most toddlers.

The 16-month-old Decatur girl spends her days learning basic skills natural to most children her age. Her time is spent in the company of speech therapists, neurologists, eye specialists and rehabilitation doctors.

By all accounts Simmons was a healthy baby. Then last August, in a moment of anger, she was shaken by her baby sitter.

What followed was 12 days in a coma, a stroke, 45 days in St. John's Hospital in Springfield, a lifetime of medical bills and a cloudy prognosis for a future that was otherwise quite ordinary.

"Less than a minute of frustration caused this," said Kristina's mother, Janet Simmons. "It's just unbelievable to me."

Babies are susceptible to severe injuries because of their weak necks and undeveloped brains, which contain spinal fluid that allows the brain to move when shaken.

Dr. Stephen Lazoritz, director of the child protection center at Children's Hospital in Wisconsin, said about 25 percent of the 16 to 20 cases of shaken baby syndrome he handles each year result in death. Statistics on shaken baby syndrome are not kept in Illinois.

"It's one of those medical situations we're just beginning to admit it happens with some degree of frequency," said Roy Harley, executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Illinois. "We're just beginning to understand the traits and begin to diagnose it with some degree of confidence."

Doctors first identified the problem in the early 1970s, calling it a "hidden form of child abuse" and a type of whiplash, according to the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse.

Many doctors, especially in the emergency rooms where many of the infants end up, are not trained to detect shaken baby syndrome.

"As in most medical things, the more blatant cases are easy to diagnose," Lazoritz said. "It's the subtle ones that are difficult."

Kristina's diagnosis was obvious.

She was in a coma when she arrived at the hospital. Kristina's body temperature was lowered to reduce the swelling in her brain, but when the swelling began to spread to her brain stem, doctors induced a coma to "rest" the brain in order to save it.

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes, children who survive often require lifelong medical care for brain damage effects such as mental retardation or cerebral palsy.

Kristina is plagued by seizures. The stroke left the left side of her body stiff and her left arm and leg may never develop properly. She still cannot crawl.

But Janet and Brent Simmons are encouraged by their daughter's progress. When she was released from the hospital, her parents said it was like having a newborn.

"When she first came (to therapy), she couldn't sit up," said her mother. "Rolling over for the first time meant more to us this time."

The increase in cases and the surrounding publicity are making doctors and parents more aware of shaken baby syndrome, Lazoritz said.

"Our families are changing and our caretakers are changing," he said. "I think when you have people who have not bonded with the baby, the chances (of shaking) are higher."

Both Harley and Lazoritz say awareness of the problem still falls short.

"There's kind of a cultural history of shaking babies to get them to respond, pay attention or to discipline," Harley said. "The common thing we hear from parents is they did not know it would result in injury, let alone death."

The Simmonses agree and worry other children might suffer the same fate.

Their former baby sitter was charged with aggravated battery to a child. Instead of having her spend up to 30 years in prison, the Simmonses agreed to a sentence that requires her to spend about another year of weekends in jail, to pay restitution and to take child care classes.

"She needs some help. I'm not saying I've forgiven her because I'm far from it," Janet Simmons said.