Three years after suffering a stroke, 7-year-old Kayli Dean bowls, rides her bike and plays with her 3-year-old sister, Elise -- all with little or no difficulty.

"She's getting involved in things. She still has therapy two days a week and she's been doing really good in school," said Kayli's mother, Stacy. "She's a normal first-grader. She's very active."

As she runs around the living room in her Sharon home, shows off her bowling trophies and picks up her younger sister, the brace on her left hand is the only obvious clue that the Case Avenue Elementary student suffered a stroke when she was 3 years old.

On Jan. 28, 1999, Kayli woke up from a nap paralyzed on her left side. She was taken to the hospital of Sharon Regional Health System and later to UPMC Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, where she was diagnosed.

The estimated incidence in stroke in children younger than 14 ranges from 0.63 to 2.52 in 100,000 in a year. Pediatric strokes occur more frequently in children younger than 2, and 25 percent of all childhood strokes happen in infancy, often during childbirth, according to the Children's Hemiplegia and Stroke Association Web site.

The sooner a pediatric stroke is diagnosed and treated, the better the chance the child will recover, because a brain that is still developing may be able to compensate for functions lost as the result of a stroke, according to the Web site.

After the stroke, Kayli had limited use of her left side. Although she still has weakness in her left side, Kayli's mother said she has gotten much better in the last two years.

"They said she'll probably never be 100 percent. She's pretty much reached a plateau right now with her progress," Mrs. Dean said.

During her therapy, she rides an exercise bike, swims and gets therapeutic electronic stimulation. Kayli wears the brace to keep her hand muscles from getting tight. She also has a brace for her leg.

"Kayli likes to take her braces off," said her father, Ernie. "But she's doing really good."

Kayli's parents find support through the Children's Hemiplegia and Stroke Association, which has an online support group for parents of children who have had strokes. Mrs. Dean said the site hosts chats on Tuesday evenings.