When my 4 year old was a baby he bumped his head. he has delayed speech - but understands everything. does he have brain damage?

Highly unlikely: Speech delay is very common, and involves many potential contributing factors. It is highly unlikely that bumping his head as an infant has anything to do with his speech delay. The first step in assessing speech delay is to check hearing. I would discuss this with your Pediatrician & strongly consider seeing a speech therapist after having his hearing tested.

Speech delay: Have your son evaluated by a pediatrician to evaluate his development and a speech pathologist. A speech pathologist can help you son improve his speech.

If there was no loss: of consciousness, I doubt the "bump"'caused his expressive language delay. Fill out a developmental screen & an M-CHAT on firstsigns.org for your visit with his pediatrician. Also, call your school district's Child Find Team for an evaluation for eligibility for Early Childhood Special Ed. services. An expressive language delay confers a risk of dyslexia at school age, so seek treatment now.

No: Your child is not brain damaged. If every child that bumped his head had brain damage, then it would be everyone, because I don't know of a single child who hasn't bumped their head at least once as an infant. Your child has expressive speech delay - that is NOT brain damage, it is a condition. WIth appropriate intervention, he will be fine. Get him enrolled in speech therapy and read all the time