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Wednesday, January 27, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Taking on concussion in the classroom
By Jim Cornelius
News Editor
Sustaining a brain injury
due to a concussion can keep
a student-athlete off the play-
ing field or court for a while.
It can also affect him or her
where it counts the most: in
the classroom.
When a student is found
to have a concussion, the
schools have a list of “pre-
determined accommodations”
that are immediately enacted,
according to Sisters High
School (SHS) Nurse Trish
Roy. Students are not to take
any tests, homework is put on
hold, and the school works to
“balance activity and rest.”
No more are students sent
home to stay in a dark room
for several days. Athletic
Director Tim Roth said that, in
consultation with The Center
Foundation, the school district
has altered its protocol.
you don’t want the
kid to be in a dark room
for two weeks. you need
to get them back in the
swing of things.
— tim roth
“You don’t isolate the kid,”
he said. “You don’t want the
kid to be in a dark room for
two weeks. You need to get
them back in the swing of
things.”
Both Roy and Roth say that
teenagers who are isolated can
develop depression and anxi-
ety over missing out on school
and activities, which impedes
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recovery.
Getting a concussion iden-
tified quickly is important,
according to Mark Stewart,
the SHS administrator tasked
with administering accommo-
dation programs for special
needs of all kinds. A concus-
sion that occurs in a school
sport is readily noted — but
when it happens off the field,
recognizing the effects can be
delayed.
“Those are tricky,” Stewart
said. “Hopefully the student
went to the doctor so we’ve
got a little bit of a diagnosis
... it really helps to have that
diagnosis from a physician.”
Roy notes that a parent
should act if they think some-
thing may be wrong.
“Listen to your gut
instinct,” she said. “If it’s tell-
ing you something is wrong,
there’s probably something
wrong… We’ve got to have
information. We have to know
that a kid is not normal.”
If staff is unaware of a con-
cussion, they sometimes have
to identify the situation work-
ing back from academic or
behavioral symptoms.
“Sometimes it’s just prob-
lem-solving and we find out,
oh, gee, they’ve had an acci-
dent and we have to step back
a little bit and move forward
from there.”
For most concussions,
there is a two-to-three-week
window of healing. In some
cases, though, symptoms
linger for longer periods of
time (see related story, page
21). When that is the case,
more structured and indi-
vidualized accommodations
may be required. According
to Stewart, that’s when the
Student Effectiveness Team
steps in.
A student who requires
accommodations lasting more
than 60 days is placed on
a federally mandated “504
plan.” That plan is supposed
to get teachers, students and
parents on the same page.
Effectiveness requires com-
munication between all parties
— and monitoring the pro-
gram to make sure it’s being
implemented across the board.
listen to your gut
instinct. If it’s telling
you something is
wrong, there’s probably
something wrong…
— trish roy
Cort Horner’s son Ty was
on a 504 plan to accommo-
date issues stemming from
concussion. Accommodations
included breaking up four-
part tests into individual days,
because Ty had a hard time
switching focus between dif-
ferent aspects of a subject.
Extra breaks are also common
requirements.
“That’s one of the accom-
modations that you can have
in a 504 plan,” Cort told The
Nugget.
Stewart says that common
accommodations include extra
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Without all three clicking
together, a student’s needs
may not be completely met.
Stewart believes that the
district did everything pos-
sible to accommodate Horner.
Still, he acknowledges that the
district can improve its under-
standing and accommodation
of brain injuries.
“The problem with the
504s is the monitoring,” he
acknowledged. “There can
be gaps. I think we’re getting
better,” he said. “I think as we
learn more about them and
their impact in the classroom,
we’ll get better and better.”
Horner, Stewart and Roy
are in agreement on one
requirement: Students need
to express their needs and let
teachers and parents know
when they’re not being met.
“The student needs to be
able to advocate for them-
selves as part of a 504 plan,”
Horner said.
Successfully navigating
a student through the class-
room impacts of concus-
sion requires a high degree
of cooperation between and
among staff, parents and the
affected student. Each case is
individual and complex, and
it’s all part of an evolving
understanding of the nature
of concussion-related brain
injury. For everyone, educa-
tion and training continue to
be the best tools to deal with
a potentially life-changing
issue.
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time; organizational support;
and help with time manage-
ment. All of those functions
are commonly affected by
concussion and post-concus-
sion problems. Horner singled
out math teacher Kristy Rawls
as having done a particularly
good job in staying on top of
Ty’s 504 plan.
“Kristy Rawls was fantas-
tic in spending the extra time
with him and finding where
he was struggling out of the
classroom,” he said.
He was not as satisfied with
the across-the board imple-
mentation. Some teachers, he
felt, were not fully dialed-in
on what the 504 required.
“I would hope attention
is brought to how we assure
that teachers are adequately
trained in 504 plans,” he said.
Currently, Ty is at a school
in West Linn, because the
family did not feel his needs
were being fully met. They are
now.
Horner is not casting
blame.
“The district resources
are limited; their resources to
accommodate anomalies to
the norm are limited,” he said.
“I understand that.”
However, he says, there is
“room for changes to the pro-
cess or improvements in the
process.”
Horner believes that suc-
cess requires “a good plan;
administrative understanding;
and teacher implementation.”
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