The unmistakable sound of a crying baby filled the library at Driftwood Middle School, in Hollywood, Fla., blaring forth from a tabletop cassette player.
Around the room, young baby-sitters and future moms and dads gritted their teeth or giggled nervously.
“You shut the tape off when everybody’s had enough,” said Jerilyn O’Neil, a visitor from Memorial Regional Hospital. “Have we had enough?”
They had. The crying ceased.
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The point of the lesson: Sometimes an infant’s piercing squall can drive an adult to the point of grabbing the baby and literally trying to shake it quiet.
Forty-one students at Driftwood in Hollywood spent a recent Wednesday morning learning about shaken-baby syndrome, the injury that can be caused by violent, repetitive shaking of an infant.
They learned that it is increasingly blamed for cases of blindness, mental retardation and death that were once thought inexplicable.
Armed with their new knowledge, the kids will spread the word to students at 22 Broward County middle schools by the school year’s end.
“My name’s Dev, and he’s T.J.,” said Dev Bharath, 13, addressing the class.
“And we’re going to talk to you about shaken-baby syndrome.
“Sometimes when you throw a baby in the air, the baby’s head rocks back and forth. Inside, there’s a brain like all of you have. And the brain rocks back and forth and hits the skull. And one thing that no one ever wants to happen to a baby is to kill him.”
Students used dolls and other props to illustrate the unique vulnerability of an infant: a disproportionately large and heavy head, weak neck muscles, a soft and rapidly growing brain and a thin skull wall.
Kathy Perez, 13, demonstrated with a rolled-up jacket.
“What happens to the baby when you shake it?” she said.
“See, it goes back and forth, because the head is the heaviest part.”
Kim Goff used classmate Jessica Pagan.
“When you shake a baby like this, the head goes back and forth like this,” said Kim, 14, yanking Jessica back and forth.
Teacher Lynn Von Loh chose students for the session based on essays explaining their interest.
After training, the 7th and 8th graders would fan out across the school’s 6th grade classes to deliver their 45-minute presentations, part of the school’s Academy of Health and Wellness magnet program. In coming weeks, they’ll teach and train students at other middle schools.
Three-month-old Thomas Hooper of Miami was hospitalized with internal brain injuries Sept. 5 in a suspected case of shaken-baby syndrome, the most recent of several prominent incidents in Dade and Broward counties in Florida.
Investigators allege that Thomas’ mother shook the boy to vent anger at her boyfriend.
Boyfriends–as opposed to biological fathers–are the most frequent culprits in shaken-baby cases, O’Neil said. Nationwide, 55 percent of abuse- and neglect-related deaths of children are caused by male caretakers, according to a federal report.
But Wednesday’s session drew mostly future mothers; only eight of the 41 top essays came from boys.
“I just want to prevent this from happening to any baby, because I love babies and I just can’t see a baby (winding up) like that,” said Jessica, 14.
Danny Goldberg, 14, shared Jessica’s concerns. But he suspected that some of his buddies did not.
“They just don’t care,” Danny said. “A lot of them just don’t care.”
About shaken baby syndrome
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What it is: Injury to the head and neck caused by the violent, repetitive shaking of an infant or young child.
How it occurs: Grabbing a baby by the arms, legs or rib cage and shaking repeatedly; tossing a baby in the air or bouncing on the knee; overly vigorous shaking to dislodge an object from the mouth; playing “crack the whip” (grabbing child by ankles and swinging around) or “skinning the cat” (gripping child by the wrists and flipping forward).
Common injuries: A combination of a heavy head, weak neck muscles, soft and rapidly growing brain and thin skull wall can lead to severe bruising of the brain. Blindness, mental retardation or death can follow.