How do school professionals notice pain in children with cerebral palsy?

Details

Most children with severe cerebral palsy experience daily pain that affects their school performance. School professionals need to assess pain in these children, who may also have communication difficulties, so they can attend to the pain and support the children’s continued participation in school.

The study investigated South African school professionals’ perceptions of how they observed pain in children with cerebral palsy, how they asked children about it, and how the children communicated their pain back to them. Thirty-eight school professionals took part in five focus groups. Their statements were categorized using qualitative content analysis.

The professionals observed children’s communication of pain through bodily expressions, behavioral changes, and verbal and non-verbal messages. Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) methods were rarely used. The study highlighted the need to consider pain-related vocabulary in a multilingual South African context and to advocate for AAC strategies that enable children with cerebral palsy to communicate their pain.