This is a part of the podcast series from the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center on Returning to School After Burn Injury. Cindy Rutter and Sylvia Salazar discuss what a structured school re-entry program looks like, after a burn injury. 

So when you're doing school reentry, there can be multiple formats. You can go to the classroom and just talk to that child's peers that are in that classroom. You can also do, you know, an assembly that's, the whole school is in the auditorium and you're talking to 'em. It is so unique to that child and family. So when you think about a family that doesn't really want, I don't like to call it fanfare, but it kind of is, they don't want that. They just want it to be nice and soft and quiet. Still, you've gotta talk to the principal, the child's teacher, just to educate them about a burn injury and hopefully at least the classroom. I think that that's vital. But I think sometimes, like, I think middle school and high school assemblies are great because it's, you're getting everybody, and it's an opportunity to just educate people in general about burn injuries. I think as a society, a lot of people don't have a clue, right, about burn injuries. And I think when you take the parents and you explain to them what you wanna do to help this transition, they can be more receptive to it then, you know. And you have to identify their wants and needs as well.

When you're doing school reentry, it does have to be, you know, really to the individual child. Each one needs something different … and making sure that you understand where they are and what they want as far as the school reentry, cause if we just did school reentry in a box, and here it is, you're not really meeting all their needs. You're meeting your needs by presenting it, but you wanna make sure that it's geared towards that individual child. 

Elizabeth helped us connect with Cindy Rutter with the Burn Foundation. And she was excellent. We first had a meeting, and we planned everything we were gonna do. She showed me and talked to me about what they wanted to do, what the goal was. And then we all also planned in terms of what the setting would be, because that kind of information, we couldn't just say, okay, entire school come to the auditorium. But it was more geared towards appropriate grade levels. We needed to make sure we addressed everyone, because throughout the day, Julian would encounter young, young children, first graders and kindergartners that do, they know nothing and they just maybe will stare. How do we address the needs of the real young children so that they understand that it's okay to be around him, that he's safe. That they're safe. So it was an excellent resource, an excellent, and I wouldn't have been able to find that if, if Elizabeth mom wouldn't have come forward with me and sat with me and talked about it. And, and we knew what our goal was. Our goal was to establish a, a safe return for him.

When Cindy Rutter came to the classroom, she was able to really build the empathy and really teach the children and talk to them about the, the burns and what they felt and what it looked like. So them actually seeing her prior to Julian coming was very helpful because then they were able to understand what Julian, at least somewhat, was going through and understand maybe some of the challenges that he was gonna have. It was nice to see that communication and that, that understanding of, oh, okay, it's, it's gonna be okay. And that's the thing, we have to make sure children are, feel safe and that they know that it's okay to maybe question, maybe not understand. But it's our job as the adults to make sure that we make things as comprehensible for them as possible.

Visit https://msktc.org/burn and get the answers you need from experts who conduct innovative and high-quality research, provide patient care, and work to improve the health and overall quality of life for people with burn injury. That’s https://msktc.org/burn.