What’s a typical recovery plan for students who have experienced a concussion?
What’s a typical recovery plan for students who have experienced a concussion?
It’s important to know that recovery plans need to be individualized for each person. Your concussion specialist or family doctor can assist in creating this individualized plan and providing it to the student so they can share with the school.
At first students may need to miss several days of school for symptoms to calm down. Once the student can manage their symptoms at home in a controlled environment, they should gradually add some mental work like reading or writing in journal. If they can perform an hour of mental activity at home without worsening symptoms, they can try to return to school.
Students should not return to school for half days. Rather, they should try to complete as many classes as concussion symptoms allow each day. This may require getting more rest each day. Students should not set an alarm clock but wake when their body and brain are ready and then, if symptoms allow it, go to school. If the student gets symptoms during the school day, they should go to an agreed upon location, such as the nurse’s office or counselor’s office, and rest before returning to class. Should the student's symptoms result in them spending more time in the space designated for rest and recovery than in class, the student should consider going home.
Parents should work with teachers, school nurses, counselors or psychologists to make other adjustments in their school day. For example, students may:
- Need more time to do assignments or take a test.
- Need to have a reduced amount of schoolwork.
- Need to take extra breaks in and out of class.
- Need to have another student take notes for them.
- Need to use an electronic device to record lectures for review later.
- Need to leave the classroom early to avoid crowded hallways if they have a balance problems.
If symptoms get worse or problems that had resolved come back, cut back again and rest. Let concussion symptoms be your guide to your own recovery timeline.