Getting back to school is often a main goal of our students recovering from injury.
Many of our patients work on returning to school while they are with us, and some may even take several classes while still in therapy. Our patients include students in middle school, high school, college, trade or technical school, and those working toward completing their GED.
Your entire therapy team can help you work on skills needed to support your successful return to school.
In most cases, the speech therapist or program teacher will take the lead in helping you develop a plan for returning to school. This person may ask you to sign a consent form allowing them to speak with your high school or middle school to help you plan for returning. They will also work with you to help you decide when and how to most successfully return to school.
Students often report feeling more successful and having more time to adjust to changes in their learning when they return to school part-time at first.
The processes for returning to school can be a little different for high school and middle school than for college.
Families are the natural link between rehabilitation and school. Knowing the laws, advocating for the student’s needs and helping the student feel emotionally ready to return to school are some of the ways families can support the student’s successful return.
Before going back to school, it may be helpful to talk about how the student will tell their teachers about any needs they have, and how they will react to questions from friends or other students about where they have been and what happened to them. Some students find it is helpful to visit the school before returning in order to practice skills needed, such as bathroom transfers or using a walker, or to visit with friends during lunch.
Changes in physical ability, cognition and thinking, communication, behavior, and emotional functioning can affect a person’s readiness to return to school.
Your therapists will help you determine if these skills have changed and will work with you to improve problem areas.
Therapy, including group therapy sessions, will give you a chance to test out your learning skills before returning to a classroom setting and to try out different strategies that will help you be successful when you return. Specialized testing may also help to identify what your learning needs are and can provide the school with the written report needed to help administrators and teachers understand your learning needs or academic accommodations. You may also be offered support in communicating with school personnel about your learning needs.
Academic accommodations are changes to teaching, testing, and/or the environment that support the needs of a student with a disability, in order to provide an equal chance to benefit from education.
Necessary academic accommodations may be different for each student. Examples of academic accommodations include:
While we always encourage students to advocate for themselves, sometimes parents need to advocate for their children. In order to be effective advocates, parents must be informed of their child’s rights.
Under federal law, you and your child have the following rights:
Several laws exist to protect the needs and rights of students with disabilities.
This law was passed in 1975 to improve education for handicapped children through free appropriate education.
This law provides that people with disabilities ages 3-21 are educated in the least restrictive environment, meaning they are educated with children who do not have disabilities, when possible. Children receiving special education services will have an Individual Education Plan (IEP) written to meet the needs of the child.
This law amended the Education of the Handicapped Act and changed the name to Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
The IDEA stipulates that states receiving federal funds must provide free services to children with disabilities between 0-21 years old. Parents must sign written agreement with the plan to receive services provided by the school staff. This act specifically includes traumatic brain injury (TBI) as a separate disability, meaning that having a TBI diagnosis qualifies students for free services through the school.
In some cases, students may get academic accommodations under Section 504, but do not get services through IDEA and special education.
A plan is required, but it does not have to be an IEP. Parents are notified of services but do not have to sign an agreement for the child to receive them.
Colleges and universities that receive federal aid must comply with Section 504 and make their programs and classes accessible for people with disabilities.
This is a civil rights law passed in 1990 to protect people with disabilities from discrimination. It covers state-funded universities, community colleges, and vocational schools, as well as private colleges and vocational schools.
Because laws are less protective of college students, those students often have to work harder at speaking up and advocating for themselves. Most colleges have a disabilities services office. The student should contact that office to get support in obtaining any needed academic accommodations.
It’s up to the student to reach out to disability services on campus, and the earlier, the better. You may choose to disclose as much or as little as you’d like. The disability services office will provide a letter for your professors. You can also meet with professors one-on-one to discuss accommodations for a particular class.
Aspects to consider include:
Accommodations to request include: