Welcome to REAP!
For over a decade, the REAP concussion management protocols have been revered as the gold standard for an interdisciplinary approach to return to school, return to learn and return to play after a brain injury. This tool has been implemented in more than 16 states with more adopting the practices each year.
NASHIA is proud to partner with Dr. Karen McAvoy to scale the REAP protocol nationwide, ensuring that families everywhere have access to critical information to ensure the best outcomes for students who have experienced a concussion. These protocols are updated, incorporating the most current recommendations and best practices, most recently from the 6th International Conference on Concussion in Sport (Amsterdam 2022).
The beauty of REAP is its ease of implementation and use by families, schools and the medical community. NASHIA is committed to ensuring that all families have access to support successful recovery and reintegration to school and sports after a brain injury. REAP is an essential tool for all families, school personnel and the medical community to achieve this goal.
Rebeccah Wolfkiel
Executive Director
National Association of State Head Injury Administrators
REAP,® which stands for
- Remove/Reduce
- Educate
- Adjust/Accommodate
- Pace
is a community-based model for Concussion Management that was developed in Colorado. REAP stems from the dedication of one typical high school and its surrounding community after the devastating loss of a freshman football player to “Second Impact Syndrome” in 2004. The author of REAP, Dr. Karen McAvoy, was the psychologist at the high school when the tragedy hit. As a School Psychologist, Dr. McAvoy quickly pulled together various team members at the school (Certified Athletic Trainer, School Nurse, Counselors, Teachers and Administrators) and team members outside the school (Students, Parents and Healthcare Professionals) to create a safety net for all students with concussion.
Under Dr. McAvoy’s direction from 2004 to 2009, the interdisciplinary team approach evolved from one school community to one entire school district. Funded by an education grant from MINDSOURCE Brain Injury Network in 2009, Dr. McAvoy sat down and wrote up the essential elements of good interdisciplinary team concussion management and named it REAP thereby creating a model for concussion management that can be utlilized by any community.
Family
Team
School
Team
Physical
School
Team
Academic
Medical
Team
If you are a Family Member of a student with a concussion, feel free to just skip around to the Family Team (orange) sections; a Healthcare Provider, navigate to the green sections. And finally, as a school team member, depending upon your role in the physical or academic realm, allow yourself to be "schooled" on the light and dark blue sections.
REAP has been customized and personalized for various states and continues to be the “go-to” guide from the emergency department to school district to the office clinic waiting room. The benefits of good concussion management spelled out in REAP are known throughout communities in Colorado, nationally and internationally.
REAP is authored by: Karen McAvoy, PsyD
© 2024 KAREN McAVOY, PSYD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Fourth Edition, 2024