Reuters (11/7, Rapaport) reports on a study published online in Pediatrics finding that state laws requiring schools to help students return to school after a concussion fail to state what sort of help should be given and do not result in the students receiving sufficient help. Illinois alone has a law setting standards for aid, following guidelines developed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study only looked at state laws and did not examine school policies or practices or the experiences of individual students.
HealthDay (11/7, Norton) reports that just eight states have laws regarding students returning to the classroom. The laws do not require any training for teachers, nor do they declare who is responsible for ensuring that the students are helped to return to studies.
MedPage Today (11/7, Basen) reports lead author Monica Vavilala, MD, of the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center in Seattle, and colleagues wrote that no state law “provided guidance on support of students with persistent postconcussive symptoms.”
Related Links:
— “‘Return-to-Learn’ laws may not help students after concussions,”Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, November 7, 2016.