Heads in the Game: Concussion effects are becoming much better understood
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Michael Collins, right, reviews the comparison of concussion test scores with Gaige Pavlocak and his father, Jeff, in September during their second visit with Dr. Collins at the UPMC Sports Medicine complex on Pittsburgh's South Side. -
Gaige Pavlocak undergoes a vestibular evaluation at the UMPC Sports Medicine center -
Physical therapy resident Pam Dunlap evaluates Gaige Pavlocak's balance
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Every Tuesday and Wednesday, for the five hours total for which a school district gets reimbursed by the state, a Southmoreland High School math teacher brings books, coursework and specialized instruction to the Mount Pleasant home of Gaige Pavlocak, 15.
Gaige, despite recent improvements in his symptoms, health and outlook, has been academically exiled to his home for more than six weeks because of the post-concussion effects still lingering from a helmet-to-helmet collision on the third day of high-school football camp.
That was Aug. 18, 101 days ago.
Such an extended period away from school -- after attempts at half days and full days at Southmoreland -- plays havoc with the academic progress of a high-school sophomore, much less his teenage psyche, friendships, everything.
"The homebound education, that's one of our concerns right now," father Jeff Pavlocak said. "But it seems to be going pretty well."
Gaige is one of unspecified hundreds of Pennsylvania students and athletes being educated at home or in some modified fashion because of a concussion.
And the numbers could be significantly higher.
Brenda Eagan Brown oversees the free, statewide BrainSTEPS program that helps to meet the educational needs of students across the commonwealth recovering from a traumatic brain injury.
Half of the students they serve, from preschool through high school, are concussion sufferers.
When the program started four years ago under both the Pennsylvania departments of Education and Health, she said, "originally we thought our focus would be working with students who suffered severe traumatic brain injuries and were coming out of rehab. Now 50 percent of all the traumatic brain injuries that we serve [are] concussions.
"Many times, it's the students with concussions who are not getting better. Or taking a long time to get better."
Therein rests a twofold problem, said the coordinator of the program whose acronym stands for Strategies Teaching Educators, Parents and Students.
Many of those same people who qualify for state BrainSTEPS or homebound education assistance either:
First Published November 29, 2010 12:00 am
