Pain in School

Did you know that 10% of 5-12 year olds in Ireland live with recurrent or persistent pain? During the PRIME-C longitudinal study of prevalence, cost and impact of chronic pain among primary school children, children told us that they often do not feel heard by their teachers, that they feel isolated during pain flare-ups, and are sometimes advised to go home when feeling unwell and so can feel isloated from their peers.

They also shared that being part of school and treated like everyone else is really really important to them. Children who live with chronic pain offered some simple solutions to make the school day easier for them (like having a stretch break every 30 minutes) and then made videos of their lived reality. We asked experts to add their advice to the video, which you can watch below. 

 There are simple proactive actions we, as adults, can take to ensure children with chronic pain meet their crucial academic, social and developmental milestones. 

The first, and often most important step in helping alleviate a child’s pain, is to believe them.

What we are hoping to do with our research findings and this video is to:

• Raise awareness among adults and especially among teachers as to the impact pain has on a child’s life; 
• Listen to and share some of the ideas the ‘experts’ (the children themselves) have given on simple things that could be done that would make daily life easier for them
• To start a conversation as to what needs to be put in place to better support children who live with pain so as to be fully included in their school.