LESSONS IN RECOVERY

Like a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse, Dorothy Saatkamp teaches children of all ages and abilities.

But she doesn't teach in a school -- she teaches at Methodist Hospital, where she specializes in pediatric rehabilitation. For school-age children recovering from an injury or illness that affects their neurological systems, Saatkamp becomes their teacher.

"Most of our patients have been in an automobile accident or some really bad accident like that and have had some injury to their spinal column or their brain. They're in a coma or almost in coma, and so they cannot speak or move; or if they are moving, they're not in full control of their movements,'' Saatkamp said.

Once the child's condition is stabilized, he or she comes to Saatkamp and the physical, speech and occupational therapists on that floor. Methodist Hospital tries to connect patients' therapies so that all staff members are working toward the same goal, and patients recover quicker.

"This floor is really in charge of moving them forward in their ability to talk again, walk again, think again, move their hands again, and then move on out of the hospital,'' Saatkamp said.

Saatkamp's classroom doesn't look like it's in a hospital. It is filled with bright colors, and pictures of former students cover one wall. A dry erase board fills another wall, and there's a computer and a communications board, which can be keyed with possible answers so a student need only press a button.

"The brain is an interesting organ. If you use one part of your brain for talking, then if that part of the brain has been injured, other parts of the brain can take over those functions and you can begin to learn to talk again,'' Saatkamp said.

Every day for 45 minutes, each student enters the classroom, often using textbooks sent over from his or her teachers.

"When they come in, I ask them if they did their homework, and then we go over that. Then we take a new lesson -- we may do two subjects, so it'll be 20 minutes or so on math, and it will be either from their book from school or it may be from one of my books here,'' she said.

"And then we may do the reading part -- English, grammar or literature. If they've read their homework, we might talk about it a little bit. Then by the end of 45 minutes, I'll give them their homework for the night.''

Saatkamp's objective is twofold: "My job is to help them with all the makeup work that they're missing while they've been sick, but also to get them from whatever lower level of schoolwork they've dropped to because of the injury back up to where they were working.''

Because Saatkamp's students often have brain injuries, she encounters many obstacles. What do you do for a student who cannot use either hand or has a hard time seeing?

Students who don't have the use of their hands might tell Saatkamp the answer to a question and she will write it down for them, she said. For students whose vision is impaired, she might take the textbook and put it on the copy machine and enlarge the print a lot.

"It's definitely a challenge because everybody's different. Everybody has a different set of strengths and weaknesses. So you're constantly problem-solving. You're thinking, 'How can I teach that better?' 'What is another way that I can say it?' ''

Saatkamp also works with the other therapists in helping students overcome their weaknesses.

"If that person, because of their injury, is having a hard time using their right hand again, well, that means occupational therapy is helping them control their hand.

"When they come in here, I can say, 'OK, let's try to use your right hand today. Let's work on holding your pencil. Let's use the computer,' '' Saatkamp said.

For some students coming to the hospital with such a serious injury and being out of school for so long, schoolwork is difficult. For others, it's a blessing.

Lauren Knox, 18, was in the hospital with a brain injury after a car accident in 1998. She found the hospital classroom a way to feel normal again.

"I loved it. I knew all my friends were in school, yet I was learning at the same time, like enriching my life with her information. It helped me feel a little like I was at school, doing what my friends did.''

Saatkamp also helps to ease students' transition from the hospital to school, once they are ready to be released.

Although she talks with children's teachers or school while they are hospitalized, as their release nears, she sets up a meeting with school officials, doctors, therapists, social workers and family members.

"Whatever is important for the school to know, they get to hear it from the staff and get ready for that person's transition out of the hospital back into the school,'' she explained.

"Say if that person is too sick to go to school all day, they may only go for half a day for a while, a month, or whatever is needed. Maybe that person will need a special tutor for a while, or speech therapy in school to help them continue to get better.''

Recovery from an injury can take a year or more. In some cases, such as with spinal cord injuries, students never will recover fully, so Saatkamp shows them how to deal with their new circumstances.

"Part of our job here is to help the patient learn how to deal with it anyway -- learn how to get around better in a wheelchair, learn how to do things for themselves.''

REPORTERS: Gabrielle Bibeau, 12, and Steven Chase, 12.