Return to School Following a Concussion: Educator Resources

An important fact to remember during our discussions of developing robust Return to School protocols in Texas is that the protocols already exist in Oregon and elsewhere. In other words, we will not be reinventing the wheel when we (hopefully) introduce Texas legislation establishing those protocols.

From a policy perspective, it is easier to advocate for policies that are proven to work in other jurisdictions. That’s what drove the huge success of the spread of the youth Return to Play laws initiated in Oregon and Washington in 2009, and it’s what we expect will happen with the development of Return to School laws in Texas, and elsewhere.

As I’ve mentioned before in previous blog posts, the CBIRT Team utilizes evidence-based best practices when developing any new program. We follow that up with the development of educational tools designed to teach interested parties on how to utilize those best practices in practical, efficient, and “real world” ways.

The CBIRT website is a great resource for information on best practices related to post-concussion Return to School protocols. They are available without cost as it is one of our primary missions to ensure that there are as few barriers as possible between the information and the people who need it.

Learn.cbirt.org will get you to those materials. You will need to complete a standard registration and login process, after which you will have access to all of the cutting-edge information relating to Return to School best practices.

At that site, you’ll find the following:

• In the Classroom after Concussion: An 8-module, online course that provides helpful information, practical strategies, and resources for educators working with students with brain injury.
• The course is designed for classroom teachers, special educators, school psychologists, counselors, therapists, administrators, and others supporting students with brain injury.
• An additional module is available for college faculty.
• A 14-module, online training program designed for frontline staff new to working with adults with brain injury across a range of settings (e.g., residential support programs, day programs).

At CBIRT, as with life in general, information is power. The more we know, the better prepared we are to make the world a better place. It’s the primary reason that I added a significant educational component to Oregon’s latest Return to Play law confident that the more that parents, players, coaches, and referees knew about concussions on the playing field, the better prepared they’d be to recognize a player’s possible concussion.

If we extend that knowledge to the school setting, the better prepared we’ll be to ensure that no student recovering from a concussion is ever left behind to fend for themselves. If we don’t, the consequences to the students, and their families, will be devastating. The choice is ours to make.