What Families Know: Reeve Summit Panel Charts Recovery of Children and Families Through Caregiver Interviews
When the unthinkable happens and your child sustains a spinal injury, your world changes in a flash. What if you could talk to 30 families who’ve been through it? How might caregiving for a child with paralysis change if it was guided by the lived experience of people who have been there?
A workshop at the virtual Reeve Summit 2021 held April 27-29, 2021, explores these questions and more. A multidisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Louisville (UofL) will present the experiences of nearly 30 families with a child living with spinal cord injury, through the families’ own words. This caregivers panel, titled “Recovery of Children with SCI through Interviews with Caregivers,” (April 27, 6-7 p.m. EDT), is one of more than 40 virtual sessions.
Deepening the Understanding of How Families Adapt to Spinal Cord Injury and Intensive Therapy
Spinal cord injury in childhood abruptly disrupts the family’s usual functioning. Parents suddenly shift their role from parenting to a caregiver. Family routines change. Resources such as time, money, and energy shift. Normal developmental milestones may be delayed or altogether absent. As one parent in the study noted: “I never thought that I would need to child-proof my home.” The comment exemplifies an unexpected yet welcome event that occurred during the course of activity-based therapy.
Second Annual Reeve Summit April 27-29 Features 40+ Virtual Sessions on Paralysis Topics
The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is excited to announce the second annual Reeve Summit 2021: Where Care, Cure and Community Connect. The Reeve Summit will be a virtual conference from April 27-29, 2021. The Summit will explore topics relevant to the paralysis community, including advocacy, caregiving, employment, research, and health and wellness. Participants around the globe will have a chance to hear from experts, ask questions, and share their own experiences of living with paralysis.
Learn More and Register for the Reeve Summit 2021
