Pain Assessment Approaches for Students With Intellectual Disability

Intellectual disability may affect the access school children have to curriculum and social experiences. While these children often have difficulty with social relationships, academic functioning, and communication, they also may experience pain on a daily basis. Communication difficulties present c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNASN school nurse p. 1942602X20915819
Main Authors Thompson, Victoria N, Morse, Brenna L, Peters, Anya B
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.05.2020
Subjects
communication difficulties
school nurse
pain assessment
pain management
intellectual disability
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Summary:Intellectual disability may affect the access school children have to curriculum and social experiences. While these children often have difficulty with social relationships, academic functioning, and communication, they also may experience pain on a daily basis. Communication difficulties present challenges for school nurses to identify and assess pain in students with intellectual disability. Although considered a gold standard for pain assessment, self-report cannot always be used for students with intellectual disability. School nurses must find methods other than self-reports of pain intensity to adequately assess these children's pain, such as collaborating with the student's caregiver(s), observing the student in the classroom, or assuming pain is present and offering an appropriate pain management intervention.
ISSN:1942-6038