The repercussions of a student-athlete’s concussion extend far beyond the playing field. Many students’ symptoms cause difficulty in the classroom, and teachers and schools find themselves unprepared to handle the athlete’s symptoms

Enter Dr. Richard Bomgardner.

Bomgardner, an associate professor in human performance studies at Wichita State University, has spent much of the past few years helping schools and teachers find the resources they need to help a student return to the classroom after suffering a head injury.

It all started when Bomgardner’s youngest son, Kirk, suffered a concussion playing football in high school.

“We sent an email to the teachers, letting them know that he had the concussion, we were going to see a doctor, and he wouldn’t be in school next day. The next morning, we got an email form one of the teachers that was very polite in regard to his injury situation, but she went ahead and assigned a homework assignment for him that would be due within two days,” he said. “That kind of alarmed me a bit that we can notify an educator or teacher about a student who had a concussion and was going to see a doctor, and they’re already assigning a homework project with a deadline before we even have a physician consultation.”

Bomgardner suspected this was not an isolated case, and in 2016 he started his research on return-to-learn policies throughout high schools in the state of Kansas.

“I developed a survey for teachers, administrators, paraeducators and coaches on their awareness of return-to-learn policies and procedures after students had sustained a concussion. Over the course of the next year, I managed to work my way up to about 25 schools across the state, and I got a little over 1,250 surveys returned out of that pool.”

Bomgardner has worked extensively with the Kansas State High School Activities Association to provide evidence-based recommendations for what schools can do to develop a return-to-learn plan.

“Right now, it’s getting schools aware that they need to have something on file so parents and students and teachers are all on the same page about what needs to be done academically and how we can control the symptoms of concussions from there in the classroom,” he said. 

Students who suffer from concussion have a range of symptoms and severity that need to be taken into account in the classroom.

“Students might have sensitivity to light or noise,” Bomgardner said. “Teachers can move them away from windows and doors.”

Some students might have an issue concentrating, and larger projects need to be broken up into smaller tasks, or exams might need to be shortened while they’re recovering.

“It’s about comprehension,” Bomgardner said. “Research has shown that students that have difficulty remembering are 1.8 times more likely to have learning difficulties. If we know we can’t remember things already, it’s going to be a struggle moving them forward academically if they can’t recall equations or test materials.”

Many students also suffer vision changes during concussion recovery.

“Sometimes students get blurred or double vision. They might have difficulty tracking words across the page of a book,” he said. “If they can’t read, let’s get a book on tape and follow that way.”

Bomgardner has been working with the Kansas Legislature on House Bill 2574, which would require schools to have a return-to-learn policy for athletes. The bill was introduced on Feb. 6 and referred to the Committee on Health and Human Services for review.

Recently, Bomgardner received a grant from the American Athletic Conference to extend his research to colleges and universities. He and a colleague are surveying faculty members from Wichita State and the University of Tulsa.

“There are differences in awareness in concussions in schools that do have contact sports, football and soccer, and schools that do not. Tulsa has soccer and football. WSU does not,” he said.

Bomgardner was due to present his research findings at the American Athletic Conference Research Consortium, however the COVID-19 pandemic has postponed the conference until later in 2020