Doll Reveals Harm That Can Be Done To An Infant's Brain
By Gina Barton
Originally published in The Indianapolis Star, March 13, 2002
The baby weighs about 16 pounds and has soft skin. Like other infants, he must be handled with care.
You may shake him lightly, as if to rouse him from sleep.
But if you shake him violently, you'll see the consequences. His rubber brain bangs against his acrylic skull. Red lights flash a warning: Damage to his vision. Damage to his hearing. Damage so serious it could kill.
The baby—a doll to teach parents and jurors about the effects of shaken baby syndrome—was invented by an Indianapolis woman and produced by a local company. They hope child safety advocates across the country will use it to help prevent infant abuse.
Although there are no firm statistics available, the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome estimates that 600 to 1,000 cases occur in the United States annually. At least five children in the state died as a result of shaking in 2001, according to Prevent Child Abuse Indiana.
So far this year, doctors at Methodist Hospital have treated seven, including Speedway infant Logan Bassett. His father, Jason Bassett, 22, was charged with the felony of aggravated battery last month.
"The thing about infants is that their brains aren't finished being made yet," said Dr. Michael S. Turner of the Indianapolis Neurosurgical Group. "They're very vulnerable."
The doll was created by Nena Ray, Indianapolis coordinator of Think First, a national education program to prevent brain injuries. With the help of the Indianapolis Neurosurgical Group, she received a $90,000 grant from the Methodist Health Foundation, which raises funds to benefit Methodist Hospital and its programs. Ray hopes to mass-produce the dolls and provide them to advocates, educators and prosecutors.
Cases of shaken baby syndrome persist because caregivers don't know about its consequences and jurors don't realize how much force it takes to injure an infant's brain, she said.
"It's hard to get juries to understand it's not play," Ray said. "It's not throwing the child in the air and catching it or bouncing it on your lap. That won't do it. It's violent shaking back and forth."
Larry D. O'Cull of Indianapolis-based Progressive Resources LLC designed the interactive doll based on Ray's ideas.
Engineers used the same technology as a car's air bag to measure the acceleration and deceleration of the shaking. When the shaking reaches dangerous levels, lights flash in the doll's head to indicate damaged areas.
"The doll is a very vivid demonstration of what happens when you shake a baby," Turner said.
In a child, shaking rips blood vessels, damages nerves, bruises brain tissue and deprives the brain of oxygen. Most perpetrators are young men who become frustrated when a baby won't stop crying, Turner said. They grab the child by the chest or arms and violently shake for five to 20 seconds. Some then throw the infant onto the floor or onto a piece of furniture.
About one-third of children shaken in this manner die, one-third become severely mentally and physically disabled, and one-third are left with learning disabilities.
"The brain just basically melts away," Turner said.
