Business classrooms were filled with student athletes clicking away at computer screens on the afternoon of Aug. 15.

These athletes were participating in the first Immediate Post-Concussion and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) session at Lawrence High.

ImPACT is the first computerized concussion evaluation test to be widely used. It measures attention span, working memory, reaction time, sustained and selective attention time, non-verbal problem solving, and response variability.

Junior Laura Nielsen suffered a concussion about a year ago after taking a soccer ball to the head. Immediately after the hit, she felt dizzy and had a headache. For the next four days, she had a difficult time concentrating. She did not immediately take ImPACT. If she would have taken the test, “I would have done badly,” Nielsen said.

She did take it one year later, and it was a breeze. Nielsen didn’t notice any long-term effects from her concussion.

The test does not detect concussions, but “provides a baseline of where the brain is currently,” said Adam Rolf, a sports physical therapist and athletic trainer for Lawrence Memorial Hospital Therapy Services, who helped oversee testing at LHS. ImPACT is designed to assist physicians in making sure a concussed athlete is safe to return to play.

Developed in the early 1990’s, the Pittsburgh Stealers were first to use this test, later expanding to 24 NFL teams and all MLB teams as well.

“The test itself is not very new; it has just taken it some time to trickle its way down,” athletic director Ron Commons said. “Now it’s down to the high school level.”

This year, LMH donated ImPACT to LHS, Free State High School and Eudora schools.

“As a community health provider, we are committed to the prevention as well as treatment of sports-related concussions in our community,” Rolf said.

LMH donated ImPACT for free, but the test is also available for a fee at Mt. Oread Family Practice and Eudora Family Care clinic.

A student suspected of a concussion is advised to take ImPACT with a trained physician within 24 to 72 hours after the concussion occurs. The results, if the athlete had taken the test pre-concussion, would be compared to the first test.

Senior football player Ryan Schroeder has been diagnosed with two concussions, one of which was officially diagnosed just two weeks into this school year. It’s not clear exactly when Schroeder received this concussion, but he had been having headaches for a few days when he took ImPACT the first time.

“The first time, it was pretty hard,” Schroeder said. “I didn’t think I did very well.”

Then, after being illegally tackled at practice and colliding with someone’s knee, Schroeder felt off.

“I started feeling stupid and having worse headaches,” Schroeder said.

He then took the concussion test again.

Using Schroeder’s ImPACT results, doctors concluded he would be back on the field after eight days with no concussion symptoms.

Doctors now have a look into the brains of all athletes who participated in the fall sports ImPACT session.

With this information at hand, the school hopes “to be proactive, to help our students so that when we suspect that someone has had a concussion, they can be properly evaluated and to speed up or enhance the recovery so that they can get back to competition,” Commons said.