Table 4.

Clinical and Policy Implications of Children's Experiences

Themes	Implications Inductively Derived from Children's Suggestions
It is Like Waking Up in a Bad Dream	- When children are confused be patient and approach them in a calm, non-threatening manner. Orientate and reassure them that they are safe. - Parents' should be allowed access to their child at all times in the ICU since they were reported to be the most calming and reassuring to children when they began emerging from their coma.
I Thought Going Home Would Get Me Back to My Old Life but It Did Not	- Educate significant others (family members, friends, teachers and classmates) about TBI recovery and dispel myths and fears about impairments. - Provide peer support mechanisms (community support groups or peer mentors) to children while they are reintegrating into their communities.
Everything is Such Hard Work	- Balance rehabilitation work and parent derived interventions with age appropriate social activities. - Make rehabilitation therapies individualized to child's interests, so that child stays motivated and has fun. - Create and fund innovative interventions that engage child's peers in rehabilitation therapies and community reintegration to assist child to stay connected in social networks during recovery.
You Feel like You Will Never be like the Person you were Before	- Include and fund emotional support services to children during rehabilitation and following community reintegration so that children can learn ways to deal with their changes, find alternative ways to process how others may react to their changes, and identify their positive attributes.
It is Not All Bad	- Educate health care providers and the community that positive meaning can be found in life after TBI when the child is positively supported, accepted by others. - Educate health care providers with an ecological understanding of the factors that influence disability.
Some People Get It, but Many People Don't	- Fund and provide mental health services, peer support and/or support group services as a part of children's recovery process. - Incorporate children's perspectives into more research, so that our theories, interventions, policies, and future research is more relevant to their needs.