Brady Lucas

                    Survivor, Smiler, and Storyteller

Brady Lucas is a Survivor, Smiler, and Storyteller. Brady’s inspiration to become an author and write his first book Smiley’s Smile came from his experience undergoing treatment for 2 childhood cancer diagnoses and finding power within education.

Brady believes all children should have access to information that can empower them to understand and be involved regardless of their age within their healthcare journey. Brady also believes support, courage, and friendship are needed elements to create a sense of belonging.

Brady has a Bachelor of Biobehavioral Health and Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Children’s Literature from Penn State University. Brady currently resides in the Greater Seattle Area with the love of his life, Julia. Brady lives a life for Jesus and by the motto Smiles Make The World Go Round.

A Framework for Trauma Informed Practices Within Hospital-Based Schools

Presented by: Lauren Delgaty, MA, Marisa Marraccini, PhD, and Telieha Middleton, BA, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 

This poster will contain an overview of the prominent educational framework in hospital-based schools (HBS) and provide an overlaying of the trauma-informed approach, ARC (Attachment, Regulation, and Competency), that includes a conceptualization of how to address mental health concerns within HBS. Utilizing current literature on both HBS education and ARC frameworks, we will suggest strategies and methods for implementing an ARC framework throughout a HBS system.

A Full Circle Experience: From Student to Advocate

Presented by: Brady Lucas, Keynote Speaker and Kimberly Matthews, HEAL Vice President

Our Keynote speaker, Brady Lucas, and HEAL Vice President, Kimberly Matthews, provide a look into their own chronic and complex medical issues and how they navigated school in the past. The speakers will ask one another questions about their present perspective, having knowledge of being a patient and now being an educator and advocate, as well as, their future hopes for education, the children, and the profession.

A Global Perspective: Chronic Pain in the School Setting

Presented by:  Leasa Ashton, BEd, CF, Perth Children’s Hospital and Debbie South, MEd, CBIS, Cincinnati Children’s

Pain rehabilitation liaison teachers from Perth and Cincinnati Children’s Hospitals will introduce chronic pain and its impact on function including school, discuss the role of pain liaison teachers and look at the global need for chronic pain education and support strategies in schools to enhance educational outcomes. They will also introduce the recently created International Pain in Schools Alliance (IPSA), comprised of pain clinicians and teachers from around the globe and how participants can become involved.

Breaking Barriers: How Community and Education Partnerships Helped a Student Overcome OCD to Earn His GED

Presented by: Dean Heus, MS, and Michael Parulski, MS, Wauwatosa School District

This presentation highlights the collaborative efforts between the Wauwatosa School District, healthcare providers, and community organizations to support a student in completing his GED despite severe treatment-resistant OCD. By adapting education to his therapy schedule, providing secure learning spaces, and utilizing remote technology, student successfully overcame barriers to education. This approach demonstrates the importance of flexible, coordinated support for students with mental health challenges to achieve academic success.

Creating a Traveling Library Program in a Pediatric Hospital: Bringing Books and Literacy to Hospitalized Children

Presented by: Rebeca Grysko, PhD, CBIS, and Sara Crowe, MEd, Nemours Children’s Hospital

For pediatric patients, especially those undergoing long-term treatments, the absence of familiar routines, activities, and school can have a detrimental impact on their cognitive and emotional development. One effective solution to mitigate these challenges is through the creation of a traveling library program and an initiative that brings books and shared reading experiences directly to the bedsides of hospitalized children. This session will focus on how to design, implement, and sustain a traveling library program within a pediatric hospital. Attendees will leave with a toolkit for creating their own traveling library programs, including ideas for book selection, partnership building, and overcoming challenges.

Development and Implementation of an Interdisciplinary Special Education Eligibility Tool for Students with Chronic Health Conditions 

Presented by: Lisa Carey, EdD, Alicia Cannon, PhD, ABPP, and Mallory Legg, JD, Kennedy Krieger Institute

Students with chronic health conditions have difficulty accessing special education. Literature suggests families struggle to communicate educationally relevant medical condition information to the IEP team, impeding considerations for eligibility under the special education category of other health impairment (OHI). The use of an eligibility tool to foster interdisciplinary communication and collaboration can function as a low-cost and efficient mechanism for supporting more equitable considerations of special education eligibility for students with complex chronic health conditions.

Early Learning for our Youngest Patients: Supporting Family Access to Early Intervention Services

Presented by: Roberta Rossman, MEd, MSW, LSW, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Early intervention provides services at a crucial time of development, providing therapies in the child’s environment and supporting caregivers to embed supportive learning strategies throughout the day. Accessing these services is not always seamless for our patients with complex medical conditions. Barriers to accessing early intervention, strategies to support access to appropriate educational services, and ways for medical teams and educational providers to work cooperatively will be discussed.

Inclusive Education, Pedagogies and Emotionally-Based School Avoidance (EBSA)

Presented by: Rebecca Fielden, BA, MA, PGCE, Bishop Grosseteste University 

Conceptualisations of Inclusive Education in relation to pedagogies for children and young people (CYP) perceived to be experiencing EBSA will be explored.  Interactions between the English school system and these CYP, alongside the need to explore pedagogical approaches to raise educational outcomes will be put forward. The perception that it is a mental health need which has led to the avoidance of school will be contested, and it will be proposed that to improve educational outcomes for these CYP, the contestable notions and assumptions of what it means to be educated must first be addressed. I speak from the vantage point of practitioner and researcher.

Learning Can Be Ruff! The Impawtance of Collaborating with Facility Dogs in Pediatric Hospital Settings

Presented by: Jamie Johnson, MEd and Elizabeth Olson, MS, CCLS, CSTDTP, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

The Hospital School Program (HSP) and Facility Dog Program collaborate to deliver meaningful experiences to patients receiving instructional support beyond the traditional hospital setting.  The HSP’s affiliation with Facility Dogs has been observed to increase student motivation, and active engagement during instructional tasks. Educators’ have reported overall improvement with initiation, engagement and progress towards academic goals/objectives. The Facility Dog instills a level of confidence and unconditional positive regard towards the student’s efforts with assigned tasks.

Overview of Psychiatric Medications and Their Potential Impact in the Classroom

Presented by: Kaylee Davis-Bordovsky, MD, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Students with mental health needs, whether returning to school after a psychiatric hospitalization or those who are being managed on an outpatient basis, are often prescribed psychiatric medications. This presentation aims to outline the different classes of psychiatric medications that students may take while discussing how they improve classroom behavior and academic function as well as potential side effects that may require further accommodations.

Pediatric Long COVID: Investigation into Schooling Needs and Barriers

Presented by: Laura Malone, MD, PhD and Calliope Holingue, MPH, PhD, Kennedy Krieger Institute.

Long COVID, or persistent symptoms after COVID-19, is a significant public health concern. Children are not resistant to long COVID. School plays a pivotal role in a child’s health, and yet, children with long COVID still experience difficulties with schooling. We conducted 78 standardized surveys and 22 semi-structured interviews/focus groups to identify barriers and facilitators for schooling with patients and families with long COVID, with or without intellectual, physical, and developmental disabilities.

Promoting Literacy and STEAM in the Hospital; Book and STEAM Cart

Presented by: Melanie Bales, BS, and Amy Wilson, MEd, Children’s of Alabama

This project was developed in the effort to promote normalization during inpatient admissions in the form of literacy and STEAM engagement. We enlisted the use of volunteers to deliver books and STEAM activities to patients referred by Child Life Specialists and Hospital Teachers. In the first 6 months we have been able to reach over 400 patients. During these first 6 months, we have received enthusiastically positive feedback from patients and hospital staff alike.

Science Journeys: Using Patient’s Health Journey to Drive a Holistic Health and STEM Curriculum

Presented by: Lisa Bochey, MA and Rachel Smilow, MA, Children’s National Hospital

Science Journeys (R25GM146282-01) an NIH federally funded program began 2023 at Children’s National Hospital with the aim to bring STEM learning to hospitalized patients. The program creates engaging STEM learning experiences for patients through the exploration of concepts and their health diagnoses. Lessons include exploring the nervous system through reflexes and the fight or flight response in the inpatient psychiatry unit, and a series of lessons titled “What’s in my Room?,” exploring common hospital equipment.

Show Me the Money! Exploring Funding Sources for Educational Programming in the Pediatric Hospital Setting

Presented by: Stephanie W. Endres, M.Ed, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Providing educational opportunities and school coordination to hospitalized pediatric patients is an essential element to the maintenance of prior learning, continued development of skills, and a successful reentry to school upon discharge. Providing these services is not free to the medical institutions and yet it is not billable to medical insurance. Currently, pediatric hospitals are providing these services, and funding them, in a variety of ways. The Hospital School Program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has partnered with school districts and the CHOP Foundation to creatively access funding for portions of the educational programming provided to patients and families.

The Importance of School Re-entry for Pediatric Chronic Pain Populations: Holistic Benefits, Challenges, and Collaborative Approaches

Presented by: Bethany Battershell, MEd, CTRS, Cleveland Clinic Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital

This session will focus on the importance of school re-entry in a pediatric chronic pain population. It will emphasize the holistic benefits of hospital school; the challenges children face and how school re-entry plays a role on the collaborative approach required for success.

The Journey to Establishing a Brighter Future: Preschool Service Delivery

Presented by: Sarah Donaire, BSED, Anne Quinn, MSEd, and Kaci Richardson, BSED, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital 

The journey to developing this program’s preschool service delivery began due to the effects of treatment and isolation from peers. This presentation will outline the preschool service delivery model to include bedside and classroom tiered services. Intentional instructional strategies will be explained for increasing engagement within groups of peers. Preschool programming in the hospital has required planning that includes ESL best practices, accommodations for the patients, and programming across inpatient and outpatient settings.

The Power of Moment Making in the Hospital

Presented by: Rachel Meyen, MEd, Hannah Bohlen, Brianne Starin, Durham Public Schools Hospital School at Duke

While in the hospital, children need positive social interactions, something to look forward to, and the chance to connect and be silly. Every month, hospital school teachers work to create moment-making events, such as celebrating a random holidays we dubbed “holidates”, or planning a fun celebration (like bringing the State Fair or Macy’s Day Parade to the hospital). These events help bring a little joy to pediatric patients, better their social-emotional health and allow them to do something that many children outside the hospital are able to do…play and feel like a “normal” kid.

Translating Not Transplanting: Methods for Situating Hospital Liaison Services Across Diverse Contexts

Presented by: Lisa Carey, EdD, Lisa Jacobson, PhD, NCSP, ABPP, Kennedy Krieger Institute, and Margaret Flood, EdD, Maynooth University, Ireland

The Hospital Education Liaison Program (HELP) was established using findings from projects that engaged families of childhood cancer patients, medical providers, and educators. In partnership with Childhood Cancer Ireland, the research team that built HELP will support the use of similar methods to situate the HELP model in an Irish context. We hope to create a “playbook” for situating programs similar to HELP within new areas and recruit HEAL Association member feedback.

Understanding the KID in Kidney Disease: Lessons Learned from an Interdisciplinary Care Model

Presented by:  Kellee Clevenger, BEd, Alix McLaughlin, PhD, HSPP, and Emily Kalscheur, PhD, HSPP, Riley Hospital for Children

The pediatric dialysis unit not only delivers imperative medical treatment for kidney health but serves as the exemplar of interdisciplinary care through embedded academic, cognitive, and mental health supports. This model shifts the narrative of the pediatric hospital setting from being centered around physical health but instead to whole-child care. Understanding the patterns of needs through the perspectives of an educational liaison, pediatric psychologists, and neuropsychologist, attendees will garner strategies for identifying and addressing concerns.