Dear WorriedMom,
This sounds a 'Tricky' question, to answer, I do know a fair amount about Brain Injury, and Phrenology (the actual Structure of the brain), however your son's young age does complicate the issue. You say that he had a Cleft Lip and wonder if there might be a connection, to his delayed speech. My answer is I doubt it but, my answer assumes, that the Cleft Lip was the only Physical Problem. However, you say, that he only had one Kidney, so maybe, just maybe, there might have been 'Incomplete' Brain Development. That Said DON'T panic, it is highly likely that his brain WILL develop Normally, as he gets older, I would however make any 'Day-care, Nursery, Pre-School even Big School', that he attends, aware of these issues.
You don't mention any 'Potty Training' issues so, I assume, that he is 'normal'- whatever that is- in this respect. Above all, and I know that this is hard, try not to worry, too much. Your child is, almost certainly, going to be Fine- just enjoy your beautiful, undoubtedly funny/ fun loving little boy.
A Final thought- 'Potty Accidents' are NOT the 'end of the world', they are a bit more washing, that's ALL.
Sending you both my Best Wishes.
AndrewT
sorry I am now seeing this so many years later. My son had a serious head injury when he was 7 months old. He was taking pictures at a studio and fell backwards and hit his head. He cried at first. I took him up and comforted him and he just stretched out in my hand. Passed completely out. We called the ambulance and went straight to the hospital where he was released as being fine. He slept or was unconscious for about 30 mins. That episode has haunted me forever. I took him to his primary care physician who said he is fine and just reacting to my screams etc.
He is now diagnosed with autism and has to take speech therapy. All the doctors said it is unrelated but I believe it is not.
I have a 3 and a half year old son who has a severe speech delay. He is just now starting to put 2 words together and the words he does use are very hard to understand. What concerns me and his speech therapist is he will loose words that he has been saying for months. Its like he has memory problems as well.
When he was just 6 weeks old we had a severe car accident that left everyone in the hospital. 3 of us with head injurys! He received a fractured skull and was monitored in the hospital for 3 days and released. His injury was on his forhead.
He was also born with a cleft lip and missing kidney. So we dont know if this is from the brain injury or something he was born with. We do know that its not from the cleft lip because that has been ruled out. If anyone has any suggestions please leave a comment.
He was about 18 months old at the time and was right on target with all his milestones ( he was also doing "baby babble" that sounded like speech with its intonations, but it never progressed past that).
At that age was he making words that made sense? Was he asking for things that he wanted? Did he ask for things using words or pointing? Here is why I ask. At 18 mos, most children are talking more than what I consider baby babble. They make words, and often put together multi word phrases. Since I don't understand what you mean by baby babble, I can't tell you whether at 18 mos his speech was normal.
If he did not lose consciousness at the time of these falls-- it is unlikely that he suffered permanent damage due to these incidents. You mention these staring episodes-- has your son been diagnosed with petit mal epilepsy?