Award to recognise schools’ commitment to brain injury support
Schools are to be recognised for their commitment to supporting children with acquired brain injuries (ABI) and their families through the introduction of a new accreditation.
The Child Brain Injury Trust has created the ABI Aware School Award, to help both primary and secondary schools develop best practice around brain injury and its often hidden consequences.
A leading researcher has suggested that, on average, in a class of 30 children, three will sustain a brain injury at some point in their childhood, with at least one being a serious injury.
Each year, at least 35,000 children will be taken to A&E with a head injury, although the actual number of those sustaining ABI is thought to be up to 60,000, when taking into account non traumatic brain injury such as illness, stroke and tumours.
However, due to the ‘unseen’ nature of many of the effects of ABI, the true impact of this on children’s lives is often underestimated or not recognised, and in many cases a child’s brain injury is often undiagnosed.
To help support such children, as well as their families, the Child Brain Injury Trust has developed a framework comprising seven key areas and 39 individual criteria for schools to address, which they will be supported to achieve ahead of their assessment for the award, with reaccreditation being required every three years.
The framework covers a spectrum of aspects from identification and awareness of ABI, to transition or return to school, and how the individual child and their family are communicated with.
Teachers will be able to access free CPD-accredited training online, alongside pre-prepared lesson plans to enable them to support pupils in developing their awareness of ABI.
The ABI Aware School Award has been in the planning for several years, and went was trialed last year, with one academy school in Herefordshire set to become the first in the country to secure the award in the coming months. The award is now set to be rolled out nationally.
The Child Brain Injury Trust has collaborated with the Eden Dora Trust for Children with Encephalitis on the development of the award.
“The vast majority of children return to mainstream school after ABI. For adults, they may need to go to specialist rehabilitation, but for children and young people, their ‘rehab’ takes place in school. While teachers are experts in teaching children, they may not be equipped to deal with brain injury – and that is the reason for the Award,” says Louise Wilkinson, head of information and learning at The Child Brain Injury Trust who is leading the initiative.
“The Child Brain Injury Trust has always promoted awareness of ABI within education because it’s so important, but there is a still a lot of work to do.
“I would liken ABI to being regarded how ADHD was five to 10 years ago. If you go into a school now, everyone knows what ADHD is, and that’s where we want to get to with ABI. We want every child to achieve their potential.
“We felt the best route forward was to develop a programme without charge to encourage schools to take a brave step and be proactive in learning about ABI. Even if they don’t think they have any children in their school with a brain injury, statistically there probably will be, so it’s about recognising the signs and supporting the child from there.”
Through the specialist training provided and identification of areas to look out for with children’s behaviour and the support they need, schools can play a vital role in getting to the root of causes of behavioural or learning issues, says Louise.
“When a child has a head injury and goes to A&E, the majority of parents are told their child has made a full recovery. Often they’re given a concussion letter and off they go home, and in some NHS Trusts it isn’t recorded as a head injury if they’re not admitted for two nights or more,” says Louise, a past winner of the UKABIF Stephen McAleese Award for Inspiration by an individual in the field of ABI.
“They’re walking wounded, they look fine, sometimes an injury is never picked up at all and the young person is just perceived as being lazy, and poorly behaved; these problems can then lead to exclusion and potentially into the youth offending system. Maybe physically they have made a full recovery, but it’s the unseen impact which is often not recognised.
“It can be much later when things are noticed – I remember one family with a 14-year-old son who started going off the rails, his parents were beside themselves and paid for a private paediatric clinical neuropsychologist. The consultant opened the file and asked his parents ‘Do you think this could be related to the fractured skull he sustained aged two?’
“Through the Award, we’re trying to create much greater awareness of child brain injury, and increase the knowledge of how to recognise the signs and most importantly how to support the child or young person.”
The Award is expected to be a 9 to 12 month process for most schools, with Louise and the Child Brain Injury Trust team supporting schools throughout, with ongoing feedback being given throughout the process.
“We don’t want anyone to fail and will do all we can to get every school to succeed. It may well be a case of them having to implement some new processes to be given the Award, or simply providing more evidence to show what they’re doing, but we will work with schools to help them become ABI Aware,” says Louise.
“We want the whole school team to buy into this from the leadership teams to the staff, and would urge any school who would like to work towards attaining the accreditation to get in touch.”
- To find out more about the ABI School Award or to register interest, contact louisewilkinson@cbituk.org or visit www.childbraininjurytrust.org.uk
