Authors

Jenny Archibald, B.A., D.C.S.

With a special interest in childhood head injury, Jenny Archibald is a psychometrist who has worked for many years with children who have had a head injury. A psychometrist (sy-co-me-trist), is a person who works with people and helps test their thinking skills, language, memory and school abilities (like reading, math and spelling).

Some years ago, Jenny was working on a childhood head injury research project in which children had a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scan. This medical procedure can be scary for children because it involves noise, keeping still, and being confined in a close space. Jenny was inspired to write a story that would explain the MRI experience to children in a language they could understand. She hoped this would help them feel more comfortable with the procedure. This became Arnie's story.

The message of Arnie's MRI is bigger than the story itself, because it addresses head injury prevention. The message is: Always wear a helmet for activities such as bicycling, skateboarding, in-line skating, scooting, and other activities that make you go fast.

Jenny now lives in Oakville, Canada with her husband and two children. She had the opportunity to use the book to help prepare her son for his MRI. Every member of her family is a big fan of bicycle helmets. She continues to be passionately interested in how families can become better informed about childhood head injury and better able to prevent it.