My high-school age daughter hit her head roller blading in gym class last December. She has had post concussion syndrome symptoms ever since. We were hopeful she would heal quickly with all the cognitive rest during the summer time, but that has proved false. I am wondering what others are doing to get through school without failing?! DD made it through the last semester with pass/fail and a "building plan", but starting into the new school year, we want something less stressful. She was a straight A student with high goals of college. Now we don't know what to do! Considering home schooling, or a 504 plan home bound...What are you doing to get through high school with PCS?

I wish her the best at recovery. I'm in college and have dropped out 5 times. I keep trying but the physical limitations and inability to focus, concentrate, learn, etc. have nearly driven me to insanity. Sometimes 'try harder' doesn't work if it's just not there.

Sometimes ADHD medication helps. Maybe try her on Adderall and see if that helps? It may get rid of the lethargy and fatigue as well, if she has that.

Best of luck,

- Frank

2girls,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Sorry to hear about your daughter. I had serious academic struggles in both high school and college. High achievers often suffer the worst from PCS.

What have you/she been doing to support recovery? What has her cognitive rest been like? How does she keep busy?

Has she had any blood work done?

What is her diet like?

Does she play sports like soccer?

btw, As a homeschool dad with a daughter who was diagnosed as borderline learning disabled in 1st grade, I know how successful homeschooling can be. Getting her free of the social pressure of achievement will give her a great advantage. We pulled her from 4th grade doing 2nd grade work in reading and math. At home, my wife had her at grade level in 4 months and she graduated high school at 16. The individual instruction made a huge difference. It can make the difference for your daughter.

You do not need any special skills to be a benefit to her. There are plenty of resources for a high school student. Doing a public school at home will not be as flexible.

What state are you in? Some states have better access to homeschool programs that others. It depends on your state laws.

Feel free to ask any questions. You can even email or PM me if you need to. I don't know if anybody else has experience with homeschooling.

Let us know how we can help. We are here for you and DD.

Include your nuerologist a good one can help you and her put together a plan. The time frame might not be to her liking but to much stimulation is a very bad thing.

Trying to meet unrealistic goals is another negative. That is why it is so important to involve the nuerologist. Any nuero worth thier salt will help and can help with any sticky widgets in the school system.

A fellow co-worker is going thru this exact same scenario and the neuro was the one to step in and tell them what to do. He also got the school onboard as they were dragging thier feet and were not helping.

I am surprised that rmshavers friend has had success with a neuro's help with the school. NeuroPsych's and Ed Psych's are usually the go to professionals. Neuro's can be hit and miss with generic concussion protocols.

If you are fortunate to find such an involved neuro, be sure to ask for input.

Having lived through high school and college with roller coastering PCS and from observing others struggling to get worthwhile IEP's (504) for their PCS kids, I don't have a lot of faith in the schools. IEP's are a huge drain on school finances so most schools are very reluctant to provide thorough programs.

Plus, I am extremely biased in favor of homeschooling a high achiever who is struggling with traditional school programs. I encourage you to consider systems such as Khan Academy to help her progress with her math and science subjects. The videos have a good timing of presentation of information that, in my observations, fits the needs of PCS very well. Check out http://www.khanacademy.org/

My school experience with PCS gave me great insight into the math and sciences. I went from being the one everyone wanted to sit next to to cheat to struggling to make Honor Society grades. As a high school freshman, I challenged freshman honors Algebra 1a and passed. I took sophomore Honors geometry and excelled.

I suffered my concussion first quarter of my sophomore year. My Honors Algebra II class, biology, and chem were serious struggles. I struggled to memorize formulas and facts. My worst struggle was test taking. I would freeze up under the stress. No amount of pleading from my neuro and the school nurse was able to get any accommodations. My prior excellent grades was the teachers' reasons to not offer help.

I eventually dropped out of college due to my inconsistency at making the grades I needed to get into dental school.

But then, this is just my experience. Your daughter may do better. Nobody can predict her success.

My best to you.

He is not the run of the mill nuero as I heard it. Mind you this is what my co-worker told me. He is a sports oriented, bull in the china store, suck it up kind of guy. The nuero works out of MCV hospital in Richmond and is doing work specific to mTBI and concussions only.

From what I have seen posted this type of nuero is the exception. This particular co-worker encouraged me to be very careful and educate myself early after my injury.

My co-workers son recieved a concussion from playing football. The game is a big thing in thier family. The neuro so impressed them with regard to the injury. That the son is no longer allowed to play football. At first when I heard that it seemed kind of extereme.

I do not think it is now.

That neuro sounds like one I could appreciate. Most concussion specialists tend to not get very strong about prevention, at least not to the level of recommending discontinuing a sport.

We appreciate the advice from everyone. My DD and I had just been discussing the Khan Academy tonight, referred by a friend. It's definitely something good to look into. What a struggle! It's nice to hear from someone who's had experience in the education struggle after a concussion!

DD has limited physical activity for 8 months. Any activity brings on symptoms. She was able to have some accommodations made during her last semester, but it was so stressful to coordinate with all of her teachers every week. And she really struggled to keep up with the bare minimum the teachers wanted her to complete. The school doesn't want to make any new plans for the year until the week before school starts. We'd like to get things in order sooner...Any other advice?

2girls,

Glad to see you back. I was concerned about your DD.

You need to understand that the one size fits all system of campus based education puts everyone through a ringer. The repetition and wasted time spent on worthless problems does not add to the educational value.

Khan Academy works on a "study each concept until it is mastered" system. This allows the later lessons to be completed because they build on the previous. Normal lessons push the student forward even though they have not mastered the previous skills.

If her school wants to wait until the last minute, I guarantee that she will not get the level of help she needs. Simply put, they expect her to not need any extraordinary accommodations, or they are not planning on offering much extra help.

She will need to learn to mastery to have any skills that she can take forward. Cramming for finals will not enable her to achieve the grades she needs or expects. This means she will need a slower and less stressful approach.

If you were to look at the long list of 'skills' they expect her to learn, you will find it is a very shallow level of understanding of many things. For the person who has strong thinking skills, this shallow understanding can almost be faked. The brain that is struggling will not have such abilities.

The biggest struggle many high achievers have is abstract thinking. It takes more brain power to link abstract issues so we struggle. We will do best at finite skill sets where there are no abstract relationships. Basically, the brain can fit the puzzle pieces together that fit solidly. Those that have weak 'fit' relationships are harder to connect. Ask her about this. She may have not realized it yet but will recognize this concept.

I know that I can master about anything that has a factual fit but it takes much longer with far more repetitions, even more if the relationships are more abstract.

I have all of my report cards since 3rd grade. I can chart my head injuries and relapses since then by my grades. Over time, some disciplines recovered even less. For example, my verbal processing never recovered to anything like my pre-injury levels.

So, please, don't let the school dump a big stress load on her. PCS is not like ADD/ADHD and other classroom struggles. Plus, the sensory overload of a classroom creates a huge burden on the struggling brain.

She may prove me wrong with these issues but I doubt it.

I know I sound extreme but I have see too many times when schools have not helped.

It is much easier for her to take it slow and learn without stress and catch up later. The failure of pushing too fast takes more effort to recover from than the effort needed to catch up later.

My best to you and DD.