Information About School Reentry for Caregivers
Contents:
- Moving from the Hospital to School: One of Many Transitions
- Tips for Getting Useful Information
- Getting Information to the School
- Helping Your Student Reenter School
- Becoming the Link to School
Moving from the Hospital to School: One of Many Transitions
When your child leaves the hospital, it is helpful to gather information that will help with the transition back to school. Even if your child will be at home at first due to medical needs, it is important to begin to include the school right away in planning for education. For some students, this means having a tutor come to the house for a brief time. Other students may return for part of the school day and increase their time at school gradually as their physical condition improves. What is important is that all students be treated as individuals with individual needs.
If your child has multiple physical needs, you will want to allow the school a few days to prepare and train staff for safe transfers, toileting, and programming. Even though your child has the right to be at school right away, this extra time can improve your student’s safety and create a more positive experience at school.
Tips for Getting Useful Information
If you get a report on your child’s status upon leaving the hospital or rehabilitation center, check for the following information.
Does the report:
- State that your child had a brain injury?
- Describe how your child acts, thinks, learns, behaves, and moves?
- Describe your student’s strengths, preferences, and difficulties?
- Outline current work habits and endurance?
- Include coping strategies for how your student deals with changes from the injury?
- Explain causes of behavioral and emotional changes and give suggested responses?
- Include neuropsychological reports?
- Suggest follow-up, further tests, or evaluations?
Getting Information to the School
It will be important for a designated person at the school to gather the following information to help with the transition and determine whether further evaluation or support is needed.
- Present physical condition.
- Physical limitations.
- Activity limitations (such as needing rest breaks or a shortened day).
- Therapy requirements.
- Any assistive devices used for writing, speaking, eating, etc.
- Self care abilities, walking, toileting, stability, etc.
- Medications (and side effects).
- Communication ability.
- Behavioral concerns.
- Cognitive recovery pattern.
- Evaluation results.
Some physical therapists prefer to make a home visit before the student returns to school to evaluate the student’s mobility and physical needs.
Helping Your Student Reenter School
School reentry steps:
- Set up a planning meeting with school personnel BEFORE your student returns to school. This is extremely important, especially if the student has challenges such as fatigue, toileting, transportation, mobility, changed behaviors, etc. It is vital that staff be trained to meet the student’s needs and that adaptive equipment be in place for toileting, feeding, etc., before the student arrives at school. If needed, set up a limited duration plan for providing education and informal evaluation while the student is at home just prior to returning to school.
- Meet with school personnel (include your child if appropriate) to plan for the transition.
- Request that the school provide in-service training for school-based staff who have contact with the student and need to use specialize techniques or devices.
- Begin to plan for short- and long-term needs and goals for your child.
- Consider having the student return to school on a shortened day, if needed, to assist with fatigue or becoming overwhelmed with multiple sources of information, noise, etc.
- Plan for a series of meetings during the first year to address the changing skills and needs of the student.
Becoming the Link to School
As the parent or caregiver, you may be the only person who has seen your child progress through many stages of care and recovery. You will become an expert on brain injury. Your child’s teachers, classes, and schools will change over time. Many times, important information about a child’s brain injury is forgotten as the child grows and changes. As the parent of a student with a brain injury, it is important to:
- Provide information to new teachers and staff about your child’s needs and progress.
- Share observations of your child’s strengths and areas of difficulty.
- Coordinate the flow of information among teachers, classes, and schools over time.
- Remember that educating a student with a brain injury is a long-term process, not a one-shot deal.
- Work with your Oregon TBI Team member or Regional Liaison to help find experts on brain injury in your community to consult with the school as needed.
- Work with your child’s school as partners, rather than adversaries.
- Explore your child’s hopes and goals to build a vision of the future.
