Grant: CIHR Café Scientifique Program

This cafe will be open to the public, attracting parents, students, teachers, policy-makers, researchers, and the broader sport medicine community. To date, much of the focus has been on return to play following concussion, with recovery protocols emphasizing athletics over academics. But when students return to the classroom, they can have a number of difficulties due to their brain injury. The school environment demands that students listen, process, and learn, which can be demanding for the recovering brain. This gathering will promote discussion and deliberation among a multidisciplinary group with focus on various perspectives and issues with returning students to a learning environment following sport concussion. The panelists will highlight both the evidence of common physical, cognitive, and emotional recovery following concussion, as well as a schools perspective with reintegrating children following a brain injury. This cafe event will be an opportunity for critical dialogue among health professionals, academics, knowledge-users, parents and students alike to explore the issues and challenges of return to learn following sport concussion.