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So, a funny thing happened

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on my way to becoming a brilliant,
world-class neuropsychologist:

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I had a baby.

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And that's not to say

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I ever went on to become a brilliant,
world-class neuropsychologist.

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Sorry, TED.

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But I did go on to be a reasonably astute,

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arguably world-class worrier.

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One of my girlfriends
in graduate school, Marie,

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said, "Kim, I figured it out.

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It's not that you're more neurotic
than everyone else;

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it's just that you're more honest
about how neurotic you are."

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So in the spirit of full disclosure,

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I brought some pictures to share.

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Awwww.

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(Laughter)

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I'll just say: July.

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(Laughter)

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Zip!

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(Laughter)

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For safety.

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(Laughter)

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Water wings --

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an inch of water.

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And then, finally, all suited up

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for the 90-minute drive
to Copper Mountain.

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So you can get kind of a feel for this.

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So my baby, Vander,
is eight years old now.

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And, despite being cursed
with my athletic inability,

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he plays soccer.

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He's interested in playing football.

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He wants to learn how to ride a unicycle.

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So why would I worry?

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Because this is what I do.
This is what I teach.

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It's what I study. It's what I treat.

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And I know that kids
get concussed every year.

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In fact, more than four million people
sustain a concussion every year,

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and these data are just
among kids under 14

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who were seen in emergency rooms.

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And so when kids sustain a concussion,

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we talk about them getting dinged
or getting their bell rung,

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but what is it that
we're really talking about?

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Let's take a look.

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[Concussive Force]

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"Starsky and Hutch"? Arguably, yes.

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So, a car accident.

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Forty miles an hour into a fixed barrier:

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35 Gs.

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A heavyweight boxer punches
you straight in the face:

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58 Gs.

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(Music)

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In case you missed it, we'll look again.

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So look to the right-hand
side of the screen.

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(Music)

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What would you say?

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How many Gs?

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Close.

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Seventy-two?

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Would it be crazy to know:

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103 Gs?

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The average concussive impact

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is 95 Gs.

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Now, when the kid
on the right doesn't get up,

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we know they've had a concussion.

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But how about the kid on the left,

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or the athlete that leaves
the field of play?

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How do we know if he or she
has sustained a concussion?

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How do we know

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that legislation that would require
they be pulled from play,

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cleared for return to play,

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applies to them?

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The definition of concussion

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doesn't actually require
a loss of consciousness.

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It requires only a change
in consciousness,

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and that can be any one
or a number of symptoms,

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including feeling foggy, feeling dizzy,

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hearing a ringing in your ear,

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being more impulsive
or hostile than usual.

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So given all of that and given
how darn neurotic I am,

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how do I get any sleep at all?

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Because I know our brains are resilient.

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They're designed to recover
from an injury.

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If -- God forbid --

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any of us left here tonight
and sustained a concussion,

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most of us would go on to fully recover
inside of a couple hours

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to a couple of weeks.

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But kids are more vulnerable
to brain injury.

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In fact, high-school athletes
are three times more likely

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to sustain catastrophic injuries

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relative even to their college-age peers,

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and it takes them longer
to return to a symptom-free baseline.

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After that first injury,

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their risk for second injury
is exponentially greater.

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From there, their risk for a third injury,
greater still, and so on.

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And here's the really alarming part:

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We don't fully understand
the long-term impact of multiple injuries.

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You guys may be familiar
with this research

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that's coming out of the NFL.

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In a nutshell,
this research suggests that,

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among retired NFL players
with three or more career concussions,

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the incidence of early-onset
dementing disease

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is much greater than it
is for the general population.

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So you've all seen that --
New York Times, you've seen it.

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What you may not be familiar with

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is that this research was spearheaded
by NFL wives who said,

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"Isn't it weird
that my 46-year-old husband

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is forever losing his keys?"

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"Isn't it weird that
my 47-year-old husband

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is forever losing the car?"

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"Isn't it weird that
my 48-year-old husband

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is forever losing his way home

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in the car, from the driveway?"

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I may have forgotten to mention
that my son is an only child.

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So it's going to be really important

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that he be able to drive
me around someday.

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(Laughter)

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So, how do we guarantee
the safety of our kids?

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How can we 100 percent
guarantee the safety of our kids?

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Let me tell you what I've come up with.

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(Laughter)

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If only.

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My little boy's right there,
and he's like, "She's not kidding.

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She's totally not kidding."

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So in all seriousness:

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Should my kid play football?

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Should your kid play football?

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I don't know.

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But I do know there are
three things you can do.

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The first: study up.

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You have to be familiar with the issues
we're talking about today.

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There are some great resources out there.

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The CDC has a program, HEADS UP.

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It's at CDC.gov.

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HEADS UP is specific
to concussion in kids.

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The second is a resource
I'm personally really proud of.

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We've just rolled this out
in the last couple months --

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CO Kids With Brain Injury.

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This is a great resource
for student athletes,

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teachers, parents, professionals,
athletic and coaching staff.

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It's a great place to start
if you have questions.

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The second thing is: speak up.

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Just two weeks ago,

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a bill introduced by Senator Kefalas

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that would have required
athletes, kids under 18,

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to wear a helmet
when they're riding their bike,

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died in committee.

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It died, in large part,

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because it lacked constituent buy-in;

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it lacked stakeholder traction.

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Now, I'm not here to tell you

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what kind of legislation
you should or shouldn't support,

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but I am going to tell you
that, if it matters to you,

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your legislators need to know that.

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Speak up also with coaching staff.

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Ask about what kind
of protective equipment is available.

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What's the budget
for protective equipment?

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How old it is?

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Maybe offer to spearhead
a fundraiser to buy new gear.

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Which brings us to: suit up.

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Wear a helmet.

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The only way to prevent a bad outcome

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is to prevent that first injury
from happening.

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Recently, one of my graduate
students, Tom, said,

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"Kim, I've decided to wear a bike helmet
on the way to class."

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And Tom knows that that little bit
of foam in a bike helmet

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can reduce the g-force of impact by half.

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Now, I thought it was because I have
this totally compelling helmet crusade,

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this epiphany of Tom's.

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As it turns out, it occurred
to Tom that a $20 helmet

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is a good way to protect
a $100,000 graduate education.

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(Laughter)

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So ...

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Should Vander play football?

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I can't say no,

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but I can guarantee that every time
he leaves the house,

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that kid's wearing a helmet --

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like, to the car,

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or at school.

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So whether athlete, scholar,

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overprotected kid, neurotic mom,

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or otherwise,

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here's my baby, Vander,

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reminding you

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to mind your matter.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)