RENO – Baby Gavin doesn’t know any other way to communicate what he needs, so when he cries incessantly, he takes some brutal blows to his small, undeveloped brain after being shaken in anger by a frustrated caregiver. His crying stops, but red LED lights show what otherwise can never be seen – damaged parts of the brain that control cognitive abilities, emotions and memory.

Gavin is an infant-sized simulator designed specifically to demonstrate the negative effects of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS). The head of the doll is made of clear plastic, making the baby’s brain visible when it lights up the areas where damage would take place if a real baby were shaken.

Gavin and another doll, Bella, were purchased by the Washoe County School District’s Family Resource Center (FRC) for $700 each with grant money. Their purpose is to educate parents about the dangers of SBS through various presentations to parents and professionals.

SBS symptoms are very specific and indicative of child abuse, said Alanna Fitzgerald, FRC coordinator.

“Shaken Baby Syndrome has a unique form of injuries,” she said. “If a babysitter were to shake a baby or toddler and the parent comes back and the child is nonresponsive, the babysitter might say the child walked into a table or bumped their head. That’s not it.”

Shaking a baby virtually “sloshes” its undeveloped brain in the cavity, Fitzgerald said. Babies have weak neck muscles and head support, so when one is shaken, the violent force rips and tears blood vessels, causes fractures and seizures, delays development, leads to cerebral palsey and the child may not be able to walk or eat. Gross motor skills and the ability to learn also are impacted.

The National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome’s Web site, www.dontshake.org, states that lethargy, lack of smiling and vocalization, irritability and decreased muscle tone are other symptoms of SBS.

Most cases of the syndrome are caused by parents or caregivers who don’t understand how to respond to a child when it’s crying. Most cases go unreported because the physical results largely go unseen. About 25 percent of victims die, according to Realityworks Inc.’s Web site, http://www.realityworks.com/sbss/index.html.

“There have been documented cases in which someone will shake a baby and then throw them down on a bed or a couch so you get a double whammy,” said Fitzgerald, who has seen at least six to eight cases recently.

The dolls were created by Realityworks, Inc, which develops interactive infant dolls for purposes of helping parents and social services professionals learn or teach responsible practices for handling an infant or toddler.

“A baby’s job is to be a baby,” Fitzgerald said. “All it can do to communicate is cry. If the baby is inconsolable or if you’re on edge, you need to think about who you can turn the baby over to – another parent, a relative, a friend."

The costs of SBS are physical and financial – dangerous to the child and costly to treat it. According to the National Shaken Baby Coalition, initial hospitalization costs are upward of $150,000. Lifetime care for permanent brain injury as a result of being shaken could reach $3 million.

The FRC has five locations in Washoe County. The Reno location on South Wells Avenue is the only one to offer special parenting programs. Through a program called Apple Seeds, the center has a mission of helping to prevent child abuse and neglect by providing information. Fitzgerald and her home visitors use the dolls at presentations or for home visits to show parents the effects of shaking a child and to discuss what the adult can do.

Home visitors try to see their clients six times each and offer support to parents within their own residence.

Teresa Schaerer, an FRC home visitor, said sometimes stress is apparent in her conversations with her clients who have young children.

“It’s the way they talk, the way they behave,” she said. “Sometimes they’re very honest and some don’t want to disclose it. … When they feel comfortable they share their feelings.”

Sometimes meeting other parents is one way to prevent injuries to babies, Fitzgerald said.

“If there’s more connection, there’s less of a chance of becoming frustrated,” she said.

“We learn a lot also from our clients,” Schaerer said. “It is very nice when they add and develop more ideas with lot of creativity to the ones we bring to them. They enrich the topics we cover with their own experience and understanding. That is a way to measure success also and helps a lot in the area of developing good and healthy relationships, in the area of prevention.”

Fitzgerald said she and her staff take care of the dolls like they were real babies all the time so as not to give any appearances of mishandling if someone mistook the doll for a live infant. Gavin and Bella are held, dressed and properly strapped into their car seats.

“A baby just cries,” Fitzgerald said. “They have no volition. … Children don’t do what they do with intent.”

The dolls were purchased with grant money from the Alliance of the Washoe County Medical Society and Fitzgerald said she and her staff are grateful.

“This has been our best choice for use of this money and to educate thousands of people,” she said.