Yr 1 child with constant headaches

[melissa75]

Hi there...although I have responded to other posts, this is my first OP.
I am having some difficulty with one of my Year one pupils. When she first started in year one, not that she was one of mu pupils at this time, but I know that complained of constant headaches. Her teacher at the time spoke to the parents, and they said she was complaining of them at home as well. The teacher at the time suggested maybe getting her eyes tested in case it was headaches due to eye strain, as she did not wear glasses at the time. She had her eyes tested and she has no problems there apparently. The headaches according to her teacher got progressively better as time went on, and it began to be attributed to the changes from reception to year one etc....
Then I began with the class in January, and these headaches started again. We again thought perhaps it was the change in routine as there was a new teacher in the room. They again started to dissipate after the first two weeks but now they seem to be back again, and all day everyday, she is complaining of her head hurting.
Now, here is where the predicament comes in...we have spoken to the parents, so they are aware of our concerns. Usually when she tells us she has these headaches, we tell her to get a drink of water, and sit quietly for a few minutes to see if it helps. Although I do not forget about her, I do not let her know that I am keeping an eye on her, as she is sort of the type of child who tends to be a bit over dramatic. What I am worried about mainly is how do you know where the threshold is? As in, where do you draw the line of it being an actual problem? Obviously I am not a doctor or a diagnostician, and I feel I have passed on my concerns to the parents strongly, as did the previous teacher. Her parents though do not seem to be concerned about it. I just don't want it to be a situation of the "boy who cried wolf" and then the one time the real help is needed, we miss it because we are so used to it happening.
I should also mention, I have spoken to said child to see if there is anything bothering her, and she has said no.
Anyone had this situation with either their own child, or any teachers have anything similar with one of your pupils?
Sorry this is a bit longwinded...hope it makes sense too, it has been a long day!

[imaginaryfriend]

It sounds quite a minefield melissa. I don't have any experience of it at all with children but as a sufferer of headaches myself I wonder if there's any postural influcnec on her headaches? Do they occur when she's sitting at carpet-time or at any other particular moment? Does she get them when she's having fun? And finally, have the parents taken her to the GP? I think I would've done by now.

[imaginaryfriend]

influcnec? How the hell did 'influence' turn into that???

[melissa75]

haha, I know the feeling...you just tend to type, and things come out that you totally missed...don't worry, unlike others, I am not obsessed with picking up on typos!
Thanks for the suggestions imaginary. Mum has said she has been to the GP and they have not found anything. Interesting point on the postural influences however...I will keep an eye on her when we are back in class in 10 days. Yay for halfterm!
the headaches do not seem to be specific to a time of day, well in saying that, they are every morning, but then within the rest of the day, they are unspecific to time. I hope something gets resolved for her sake, as she is a sweet little girl and I hate when you see a child who is suffering in that way.

[minxpinx]

It sounds like her parents need to get her checked out. My brother spent his whole life with horrible headaches and it turned out that he had a massive brain tumor which eventually killed him. Please try and get the parents to take this seriously. If there is nothing wrong and she is being a bit dramatic, then nothing will have been lost.

[imaginaryfriend]

I agree with you minxpinx, worth giving her the benefit of the doubt to begin with. Tackle the probably psychological nature of the headaches later.

[melissa75]

wow minxpinx..so sorry to hear about your brother, thats horrible. I am going to speak to my Head about it and get her take on it, I had wanted to to do it today, but it was not possible, so will have to wait until after halfterm now.
Thats my biggest concern at the moment, is how do you know though when she is in your care, and not your own child, when it is serious enough to say send her home or what. It is just really concerning when it is happening constantly.

[gigglewitch]

wondered if she is affected by the type of lighting in the room - and whether (sorry if i'm stating the flippin obvious) here eyesight has been checked out.
I mention lighting because ds1 is dreadfully sensitive to the type of light he works in - as per textbook he prefers natural light and fluorescents drive him bonkers [ok, he's dyslexic too, so the thing can get magnified somewhat]
I am very short sighted and it took me years, well into my teens, to realise that this was the cause of years of headaches especially when work was on a whiteboard rather than a blackboard. Food for thought, I hope, especially as from the school pov you can perhaps get her into the 'system' for eye checks - our school can and does...

[muppetgirl]

I would
get her eyes tested
does she suffer with stress? anxiety?
does she grind her teeth? (common cause of headaches, some grind in their sleep and never know. I only found out as dh told me. I grind when stressed)
I was light sensitive to the flurescent lights when I was little and constantly had headaches. I also had good eysight but my eyes didn't work together. I did exercises to train them and it worked. When I was a teenager I wore glasses with a special light reflecting coating that helped.
Does she drink enough water? Dehydration can casue headaches.

[muppetgirl]

As a fellow teacher I would also keep poet-it notes in her file to help build up a body of evidence as to frequency, specific times and intensity (in your opinion) and the effect they have on her work etc etc. This will help talking to parents but can also help with professionals rather than just turning up to a drs app saying 'I have headaches'
(I used to have a class file to keep all personal assessments and information needed for reports and concerns etc)

[muppetgirl]

Post it notes
Sorry!

[christywhisty]

My DS had constant headaches in Year3/4 It turned out he had chronic sinusitis.

[melissa75]

Hiya...thanks for the responses...she has had her eyes checked according to her parents, and all was fine there. Good point on the light. I find classroom lights sometimes bother my eyes as well, but my classroom gets a lot of natural light, so I rarely have the ceiling ones on anyway. I am also big on conserving energy where possible, so we do this as a double edged sword wherever possible.
muppetgirl...good point, I have something similar, but will get my TA to record observations of her to bring to the parents. We have open evening coming up for her soon, so def. planning to bring it up then. It is just so difficult when you are on the teaching side of it and it is not your own child. It she were mine, I would have her in to the GP constantly until it gets resolved, but then every parent does it differently.

[loobeylou]

we had a TA at school who got headaches all the time, Dr said it was stress - it was actually a tumour, and she died.

keep a log of every time she complains, show it to the parents, say you are very concerned. either she is NOT complianing as much at home, or they are not taking notice of her. Do you have a FLO who could go between, or a school nurse who could talk to them?

[melissa75]

we have a school nurse, but she is basically impossible to get a hold of unfortunately...she covers 9 schools in our borough and so is constantly in demand. I am going to try to see if I can get a hold of her

[Littlefish]

Do you use an interactive whiteboard? The projector and output from the board itself can be quite bright.

[melissa75]

littlefish, I do have a smartboard, and use it a LOT! A good pt about the light from it, however mine tends to be really dark, not the greatest of quality, but it could contribute. The only thing though is she complains about the headaches before we even get into the classroom in the morning. She comes from a very well respected family in the community, both parents are involved with the school, and she has older sibs so the family has been known to the school for many years...so it is not that I suspect anything is happening at home, as I have been in that situation before, unfortunately, having children who were being abused and/or neglected or there was problems within the family, and even without the child saying about it, you can pick up on the difference in behaviour or even have a gut feeling that something is wrong, but I do not have that in this situation.

[rosbif]

Hi Melissa, gosh wish my DT's had you as a teacher, you sound really lovely and caring about your pupils. DT2, who is 6, is also complaining of headaches at school. He has now seem 3 doctors and just yesterday had a sinus and brain scan. All is clear, his eye test was completely normal too. I am mystified, though my gut instinct is that he is worrying about something and/or wants to spend time at home with me. He is a sensitive soul. Sorry this is not very helpful but I wonder if your pupil might not be stressed by work or is there perhaps a bullying issue? Best of luck

[rosbif]

seen not seem....

[melissa75]

rosbif...thanks for the compliment. Good points on the idea of worrying about something. I too thought that might be the case with this particular pupil in my class. I am just going to have to wait till next week and see how she is, and really push my concerns I think, if it keeps continuing.

[imaginaryfriend]

How is this panning out melissa?

[melissa75]

imaginaryfriend...thanks for asking. I spoke to her mum the other day and she said she thinks it may be attributed to not wanting to come to school due to her older brother saying that in the moment, so she is now starting to do the same thing. She is taking her again to have her eyes tested, and also to the GP to see what further investigations can be done to find out if it is physiological or not.