Couldn’t come at a worse time. Missed his AP exam today and will miss a whole lot of school work. Junior in high school trying to finish off his year keeping a 4.0 GPA isn’t looking so great right now. Anyone else go through this? So bummed…
So sorry 
We have not gone through this but DD’s friend got one in soccer this week. I wish DD wouldn’t play again next year but I expect she will.
Hope the schoolwork can be managed somehow and sending get well wishes!
So sorry. Good luck.
We went through it last fall and winter with a senior.
My advice would be to get in with a concussion specialist immediately. I was sorry we waited as long as we did but I hadn’t expected D’s post-concussive symptoms to last as long as they did.
The specialist had a long list of accommodations for the school–much more than the primary care doctor suggested and things I had never thought of–and told me what route to go in dealing with the school to make sure the accommodation were adhered to. We found that her teachers were very understanding, sympathetic, and sensitive to her needs and her grades were not greatly impacted.
The specialist also helped us understand all the different areas of life that can be affected by a concussion and that wound up being important as D went through the ups and downs of a two steps foward, one step back type of recovery.
We also wound up using PT for lingering neck pain and vision issues. I really wish we had done that sooner too, but dealing with the different symptoms was almost like peeling through the layers of an onion: the neck didn’t seem as much as an issue while she was still having headaches everyday, and the vision wasn’t an issue until the limits were lifted on reading and writing.
One helpful piece of advice was to scale back schoolwork and activities to keep symptoms manageable, not just jump back in after the rest and go full steam ahead, That’s common sense but it can be hard for high achievers.
For years, the advice was brain rest for a month, but we were told that recommendation has changed because it was creating stress that could then aggravate symptoms. So, basically, after a rest period, you have to work to find a sweet spot between too much work and too little.
Ditto on the specialist and PT. My kid was apparently back to normal in two weeks, but it was only two months later that she mentioned she still had a constant headache. PT for visual and neck issues was all that got her through finals for one of her classes - I helped her study and you could tell almost down to the day when she’d had the concussion. She knew everything before that point, and absolutely nothing after that point.
@MACmiracle thank you! This is the first time for our family and we are taking all the advice we can get.
You may need to be very aggressive with the high school, which I suspect may not be as attuned to the issue as colleges are. D got hers as a rugby player in college, and her professors were extremely understanding and helpful and cooperative. Plus she had support from the coach and trainers, etc. You have excellent advice above.
Thanks everyone. The worse symptoms for him are fatigue anxiety and nausea. He is so anxious I fear he won’t be able to get back to school for weeks. I am keeping him as quiet as possible to allow healing. Never realized how scary a concussion can be until we experienced it first hand. Didn’t know what was wrong with him for 4 days. An elbow to the head during basketball leaving a bump was all it took. Who knew?
If your DS suffered his concussion during a school activity, you should be especially insistent that they make the accommodations needed for him in his classes and tests. Best of luck to you.
It is tough. See a concussion specialist if at all possible. My co-worker was off work for 6 weeks with one. He couldn’t look at a computer and that is what most of our work is. He still can only use one monitor (we usually use two). He said he still has some headaches and gets tired easily. Just work with the school and be firm about the accommodations he needs.
My daughter had a mild one in college (not sports related) - which kept her away from school work for only a few days…
The biggest thing is no screen time - none - including cell phone. She used Siri or Alexa to send texts and communicate using her phone. Had others read her homework questions aloud.
I also second the PT. My daughter most likely had whiplash from her fall, which went undiagnosed. We realized it months later when she got aural headaches and ended up with TMD symptoms for almost a year. You need a good PT who does a complete workup to determine exactly what neck and other muscles are injured and how to get them back in working order.
@Skippy00 , I hear you. My D had a minor fall and did not even hit her head. She held it up to keep it from hitting, but her brain must have been jarred inside her skull. She did not tell even us what happened that night and it was the school nurse who figured it out in the morning and called us.
I picked D up and took her to her regular doctor who said she could go back to school in three days and start working again in a week. So even she didn’t realize how bad it was.
My friend told me to take D straight to a specialist and I really regret not going sooner because the daily headaches, sensory symptoms (she couldn’t deal with noise or bright lights), inability to focus, etc., just kept getting worse for the first two or three weeks. It doesn’t have to be that way but it was because she we didn’t know these were all clear signs she needed more brain rest.
I remember hearing that kids who push themselves take longer to recover. That’s why it’s especially important for high achievers to know to scale back when there are symptoms and adjust work to stay as symptom free as possible.
The concussion specialist told us he often recommends counseling for the psychological symptoms. We did not pursue that for D18 though we talked about the option and kept the door open. To be honest, D18 has always been an unusually even-tempered kid but if any of my other kids were in the same position, I would have sought out counseling. As it was, she dealt with uncharacteristic moodiness and feelings of being overwhelmed with school work and the college application process for moniths afterward.
I know this is very hard right now because it’s the end of the year, but do what you can to get through as bestvyou can, and then try to make it a low key summer.
As @AboutTheSame said, be aggressive with the school if necessary to do all you can to reduce any impact on grades. It depends on the school, but teachers might have the right to waive or at least modify certain tests and assignments at their discretion. This would be a good option since it’s almost the end of the year.
There should be a designated concussion “coordinator” at every school, according to the specialist we saw. Ours was the school nurse. It was her job to get the accommodations to every teacher and follow up if they aren’t observed.
I have dealt with this with my S, and it can be something that lingers and becomes a long-term issue. Most schools are used to accommodations for a short length of time, then back to school full time. But the reality is that your brain may need to ease back into classes, you might have good brain days and bad brain days. You might make it through the first two classes at school, but then need to be dismissed.
The need for isolation to rest the brain can often lead to depression and/or anxiety. We found having a friend stop by our house for a 5 minute visit was helpful, but longer visits ended up causing too much stimulation for the brain.
This is not a broken arm, or even mono, there is not a steady course of treatment and then a complete healing that follows a predictable timeline for concussions. Do not let fear of “ruining” college admissions drive this journey. Slow and steady, two steps forward, one step back, there is no “normal” that you can use to measure your child’s healing.
Find the specialist(s) you need. Check out every aspect–get a thorough eye exam, chiropractor can check the spine (or orthopedics if you don’t use chiropractors), we had a neuro-psych evaluation. Trouble sleeping, appetite changes, personality changes, your child’s journey will be unique and you will need to be flexible. Good days do not mean all is well, and bad days do not mean all hope is lost.
A parent can love and support the child by noting that day’s symptoms, keeping records, and not overpromising when and how the child will recover. Just be there.
So sorry you have to deal with this. Please PM if you would like.
I have had a concussion and can really sympathize. Since I am older, the ricochet effect is stronger I think and I do still have symptoms a few years later, but I think a younger person generally has a better chance at recovery in full. Screens are a big problem!!
Find out who the 504 coordinator is at your school and see if she can have a 504 plan. Of course she is entitled to tutoring at home after a certain amount of time, but that is not always the best path, since the tutor comes at a fixed time and symptoms fluctuate- and she should probably be resting anyway.
I would think that at first all school work could be postponed and she could have some sort of “incomplete” or set of extensions so she can finish in the summer.
One of mine has some serious health issues that took her out of school for months but her GPA did not suffer nor did her learning, ultimately. I went to a lawyer for suggestions (not adversarial with the school, they just didn’t know how to handle it). So this is what we did: every day, every teacher filled out a sheet with homework assigned, work done in class, (with notes or class and homework materials attached), grades missing (to keep organized), and any quizzes or tests attached. She took one exam at home. Every day, we picked up a package of these papers at the nurse’s office (nurse collected them from teachers).
This way, my kid could go in and out of school with ease, so she would go up for one class, come home, then go up for another class or extracurricular.
I would note that at first we tried getting the packages on days she was not in class, or for classes she missed, but that did not work: teachers could not remember to notice. It was the principal’s own idea to do it for every class every day so teachers would get into the routine of it daily.
Since hers was a long term situation, we also met with the principal and he waived the requirement that she attend all day in order to participate in extracurriculars. She sometimes did play rehearsal on days when she didn’t get to school. This helped with the isolation and had social benefits. The principal understood this, thank heavens.
She gradually returned to normal attendance after many months.
We made health a priority, as you are. Many appointments and therapies. But she managed to do very well with admissions and is now happily in a PhD program in a field she loves. Things will get better! We adults can take a long term view and it can be hard to convey that to teens, but it sounds like you are doing a great job 
Your kiddo had a health related injury. Schools are required to have a plan for “health related accommodations”. This can be things like providing a tutor at home, allowing for incompletes in courses, etc.
The 504 coordinator could be the person to ask about this. It might be the school nurse who has the info…or the building principal.
The difference between a health plan and a 504 is that the health plan is more temporary…several weeks and then reviewed. A 504 is for the year.
I’m quite sure this isn’t the first time the school has dealt with concussions.
Agree…see a specialist ASAP…who also should be able to tell you what to ask the school for AND provide sufficient documentation to support your request.
Coordinate with the Guidance Counselor to help working with teachers. My DD had mono at the end of Junior year and she was excused from her “quarterly” tests.
Thank you everyone…it helps to hear others stories with this. This is all new to us and the school nurse has been very helpful so far. I did ask all teachers to send work home but I worry they will over load him with work. I am learning so much reading about concussions. He is scheduled to take the make up AP Lang test on the 23rd and we are requesting 100% extra time but I don’t know that he will be ready for it. He says he doesn’t have a hard time concentrating and he isn’t having headaches its more fatigue and stomach upset off and on. We will play it by ear. He really wants to take the exam he says he prepared for it all year and doesn’t want to lose the GPA boost but his health is more important.
I am going to offer advice/suggestion that may upset some. Please keep your child out of contact sports. Running, swimming, tennis & golf are great options.
Why do I say this ? I am NOT a medical person, but I was a boxer, wrestler & football player. As a high school student I not only was an amateur boxer, but was a sparring partner for local professionals. I wrestled for a very competitive team & our football team was easily among the top 5 in the country. I experienced serious physical contact on a daily basis for years–but never once was diagnosed with a concussion. This leads me to believe that your son is quite susceptible to concussive head injuries. Contact sports & the risks of a second and third concussion & depression later in life are not worth it. Squash & racquetball are two other sports in which concussions & physical contact is rare. Water skiing also.
Sorry for being preachy, but head injuries are serious business. Just try to get into the US Air Force pilot training program with a former neck injury, for example.
Studies have shown that subsequent concussions compound brain damage. I have worked in HS sports. Athletes would not admit to concussion symptoms because they didn’t want to be benched. They also rushed back into contact sports as quickly as possible. My personal advice for an athlete after a concussion would be to quit instead of risking further brain damage from another concussion. But nobody does that.
Agreed that the student should see a specialist at a concussion clinic. We got very different advice from that person that we got from the ER doctor. In my son’s case, he was seen at the clinic over a period of 6 weeks. To release him, they wanted him to be able to do certain balancing exercises that he probably couldn’t have done even before the concussion. Technically he was never released from their care for that reason, but the advice they gave (such as lowering the brightness of the laptop) was useful.
BTW, the health risks from quitting exercise should also be taken into account when advising students to quit a sport.