“My daughter Maria went skiing for the first time a few weeks ago.  She was really looking forward to it.  Next thing I know her friend’s father – who took them on the trip – calls to say she had fallen and hit her head and needed to go to the hospital.  Thank heaven she was wearing a helmet and on the bunny slope.  She was diagnosed with a concussion.We were focused on getting a medical clearance from our family doctor so Maria could return to school and not miss any classes, but when she got back to school, communication was lacking and we didn’t know what was going on.  She started having headaches and suddenly had difficulty reading and listening.  The school seemed utterly unprepared to support her and did not seem to know the concussion can affect learning.  This made things worse at the start, but after our insistence they worked with us and now Maria is doing better.But it could have been a lot easier if they had been trained and knew about simple temporary accommodations. Had I known that the school really had no training, I would have gotten much more involved from the start.  Maria became upset and worried mainly because she didn’t understand what was going on. If the people in the school had a game plan, she would have avoided a very difficult period.  She’s still into her skiing though, something else for me to worry about!” – Joe Alonzo, New York