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
Recommended