Dr Sarah Rudebeck

Senior Clinical Psychologist - Paediatric

Neuropsychology, Stroke Recovery Clinic

MSc, PhD, DClinPsy

Psychological support for

children and parents after

stroke

Conversation, books, comics, pictures

and celebrities to talk about stroke

Background

• Having a stroke can be difficult and life changing event. Apart from

the physical changes it can lead to many psychological changes:

• Mood

• Cognition

• Behaviour

• Parents and siblings can also experience their own emotional

reactions to the stroke

• Conversations and story telling can be a helpful tool to help families

talk together about stroke and it impacts.

Odd dog out – by Rob Biddulph

Story books

• Young children developing language and emotional intelligence

means it can be hard for them to express how they are feeling and

understand difficult events.

• Story books are an excellent way for them to understand and come

to terms with difficult events and emotions.

• Gives them a language to talk about difficult things and feelings and

helps them process things they cannot verbalise yet.

Talking to your child about stroke

• Children become aware of their similarities and differences to others

around the age of 4-5 years. Around this time it is important for them

to have a simple understanding of their stroke.

• The whole family should share this understanding.

• Siblings will also need to come to terms with and talk to others about

why their sibling is different.

• This simple narrative can help a child come to terms with differences

and also allows them to answer questions.

Helpful books

Hemiplegia

www.scope.co.uk

Traumatic brain injury/ABI

www.childrenstrust.org.uk

Disability

Amazon.co.uk

Perinatal/Early

stroke?

Developing your own books- All about me

• Appropriate for ages 3- 6 years.

• Personalised book about a child including:

• Likes

• Interests

• Family

• Strength's

• Includes a simple story about a child’s medical story

• Other things to include: Questions for my doctors, Ways to

cope with regular procedures or worries, Mum and Dad’s

story of my medical journey.

• Developed over one or two sessions with a child and

caregiver

Emily

My story (example)

When I was a young I had a stroke/brain

injury.

This caused my …….. leg and arm to be (insert

preferred word e.g., sleepy, poorly, weaker).

I get to play lots with my ………. arm to help

make it stronger.

I have been working really hard and am getting

stronger and stronger.

Mum and Dad are really proud of me for all my

hard work.

My stroke makes things a bit trickier for me

but I am so brave and always put in my best

effort to overcome them.

All about me!

My name is:

My birthday is on:

My Schools name is:

My Teachers name is:

Who is in my family?

My Family I live with

My Favourite Things My favourite animal is:

___________________________________

My favourite colour is:

___________________________________

My favourite film is:

___________________________________

My favourite book is:

__________________________________

Things I am good at:

My story

When I was a young I had a stroke/brain

injury.

This caused my …….. leg and arm to be (insert

preferred word e.g., sleepy, poorly, weaker).

I get to play lots with my ………. arm to help

make it stronger.

I have been working really hard and am getting

stronger and stronger.

Mum and Dad are really proud of me for all my

hard work.

My stroke makes things a bit trickier for me

but I am so brave and always put in my best

effort to overcome them.

Tree of Life• Group therapy to help teenager to

come to terms with medical

conditions.

• Involves people drawing their own

‘tree of life’ in which they get to

speak of their ‘roots’ (where they

come from), their skills and

knowledges, their hopes and

dreams, as well as the special

people in their lives.

• After this they discuss some of the

‘storms’ that affect their lives and

ways that they respond to these

storms, protect themselves.

• The Tree of Life enables people to

speak about their lives in ways that

are not retraumatising, but instead

strengthens their relationships with

their own history.

Family reactions to stroke

• Trauma

• Grief

• Resilience

• Coping

• Shock

• Sadness

• Anxiety

• Strength

• Healing

• Togetherness

Traumatic reactions to traumatic events

Ambiguous Grief

Siblings