An Auburn, WA, woman has been accused of causing severe brain injury to a 9-month-old child on Thursday, while babysitting the boy.

The 18-year-old woman was hired by the boy’s parents for a weekday schedule after she responded to an ad on Craigslist.

Court documents say that the woman told police that she had been frustrated with the boy, who did not appear to like her and was fussy.

The woman reported that one day the boy was being particularly fussy and she became so angry that she sat him down hard on the floor, causing his head to snap forward. She then roughly placed him in his playpen, where he fell backwards.

Shortly thereafter the boy began to cry before falling asleep and making strange breathing noises, at which point the woman called the police.

The child was transported to Children’s Hospital, where doctors found him to have suffered severe brain trauma.

The woman has been charged with first-degree assault of a child.

Neurologists at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have adapted Functional Connectivity, a technique originally developed for studying the organization of the brain, to help them in predicting how injuries in one part of the brain can lead to problems in other areas.

According to a Washington University article, Functional Connectivity allows doctors to see the health of neurological networks that allow different parts of the brain to communicate. The ability to use older techniques in novel ways is allowing clinicians to predict the effects of injury, which in turn aids in choosing how to treat the injury.

Functional Connectivity utilizes MRI scans to monitor blood flow to various areas of the brain, which is indicative of brain activity. Scientists have found that damage to communicative networks between the hemispheres of the brain led to additional problems for patients and that this technique could lead to new treatments.

If you or someone you love has suffered the experience of head trauma or brain injury, contact the New Jersey brain injury attorneys of Levinson Axelrod at 800-346-5529 to see what options are available to you.