When should a person with a spinal cord injury return to school? - Sigmund Hough, PhD

When they’re able to face discharge from an inpatient unit, at that point the team would’ve talked about community reintegration. For a person in high school, college or doing advanced studies, when that person is ready, speaks to what is it that they’re going to be doing. A solid example is that if you’re discharged in July and go home, and the semester starts in September, what are you ready for? And some people say, “I’m ready to get back in there, I’m ready to get going.” And some people say, “To be truthful, this has been a lot of homework”—inpatient homework. Now you’re going to have outpatient homework, and you’re going to be fatigued, and if you can handle it, go for it. I wouldn’t take a full course load in September. If you want to take a course, if you want to take a few courses and be able to change it, talk to the school. Because schools now are on the same page in terms of what do you need in order to be successful? You need to let them know if you need more time, if you need a tutor, if you need adaptations. Always look to make sure that the institution is ADA compliant.