Q: My son is 91/2 years old. Last year he got hand and legs bone broken (twice) and he could not attend his school regularly. The year bfore last he had some skin problem so it was operated upon twice. He could not attend his school because of that. Before this he was a good student. Now my problem is that my son does not want to read and write, he is not writing in school. Is it because of the anesthesia that he was given for the operations or something else? Please help.

A:It appears that your son has probably developed some psychological problems in studies due to the trauma of multiple fractures and the constant immobility and the need for repeated hospital visits to correct the problem. He most probably has lost an academic year and unable to accept that he is now below one year of most of his friends in the school. There of course could be some effect of repeated long anaesthesia on his mental functions, but I feel it is more closely due to his psychologic problems. The anaesthesia given for procedures like circumcision are are very short and does not cause long term cognitive deficits. I feel consulting a clinical psychologist will help your son quite a lot and help him to adjust with his studies and possibly catch up with his peers in the long run. It is not clear why he has multiple fractures of hands and legs. Does he have genetic disease with fragile bones?