The Case Manager Role

The case manager in communication with the school, parents, medical professionals, etc. will be responsible for making sure that this training and communication occurs. Another significant role they will play is an advocate for these children. Because there is a lack of knowledge and urgency of services regarding the effects of TBI, the case manager needs to be the child’s advocate as they transition back to school. Within this role as advocate, they can support these children by providing information and resources to those working with the child as well as their family. To the professionals, the case manager will be responsible for promoting evidence of the significance that appropriate services has on these children, as well as the need for …show more content…
The case manager will play an important “middle man” role in making sure that communication is maintained among the team (Ruoff, 2001). To achieve this level of communication while transitioning back to school, the case manager will be responsible for setting up an initial team meeting(s) and encouraging check-ins between the medical therapists, school professionals, and the family. As the time period extends where the child is out of their medical rehabilitation setting and is in school, this communication will not need to occur as frequently. However, the case manager will need to check-in with the school professionals and the family, to see whether assistance or advice is needed from the medical setting. If so, the case manager can help the family or school get into contact with …show more content…
Making sure this transition runs smoothly and is as child-centered as possible is of utmost importance. In order to make sure that the services they are receiving are child-centered, there must be communication between everyone working with the child so that their strengths and needs are clearly understood by both the school professionals and the family. The ability of the school professionals to provide adequate services to these students depends on having training and knowledge on brain injury and its effects on children, in addition to the information provided from the medical rehabilitation setting. Advocacy for these children will support the need for training professionals, as well as the need to maintain communication among the team. To achieve these three goals, a case managing company must be involved to assign a case manager to every child’s team to help make this transition back to school both a child-centered and supportive experience. This will establish a system of consistent, effective support that gives each child a strong chance for a successful recovery.
However, because TBI is considered a “low-incidence” disability in the school systems, this all may be easier said than done. School professionals may not be as willing to participate in the necessary training and education, they may not be willing to commit scarce resources to these low-incidence cases, and they may