TRAINING PARENTS TO ADVOCATE FOR STUDENTS WITH TBI

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Each year, approximately 30,000 children are left with significant alterations in social, behavioral, physical, and cognitive functioning as a result of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Effective parental advocacy for services to address the effects of TBI leads to successful school experiences and outcomes. However, these parents are often ill-equipped to advocate for appropriate educational services for their child, resulting in educational needs being unmet. The proposed program will train parents in five critical advocacy skills: (a) effective communication; (b) identifying/summarizing the problem; (c) goal setting and prioritizing; (d) gathering information and resources; and (e) accessing social support. The Phase I project will develop an interactive multimedia CD-ROM for parents of students with TBI, focusing on effective communication skills used to advocate for concerns regarding social behavior in elementary school-aged children with TBI. Phase II development will expand content to include (a) the four additional advocacy skills, (b) additional areas of concern (i.e., physical/medical issues, academics, organizational skills, post-high school planning, and social integration), and (c) the ability to tailor information by student age (e.g., elementary or secondary). In addition, a web-based chat room will provide social support to parents applying the advocacy skills in their own schools. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: This interactive multimedia (IMM) program will provide parents training in key skills needed to advocate for children with TBI in the schools. The benefits of the IMM format include: proven effectiveness; low cost; individualized, self-paced mastery learning; objective tracking of the users' progress; and availability of training materials regardless of busy parent schedules. The market for the CD-ROM product includes all parents of school aged children with TBI, as well as education and rehabilitation professionals providing TBI-related services.