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Working
With Your Child’s School
In order
to keep your child’s asthma under control at school, parents
need to prepare themselves, their child and school staff. Here’s
what you MUST do before school starts:
- Make
a written Asthma Action
Plan with your doctor or asthma counselor, and give a
copy to your child’s school.
- Make
sure the school has emergency numbers to reach you.
- Schedule
a conference with your child’s teacher to talk about your
child’s asthma.
By
working with school staff year
round, you can make sure your child has a healthy school year.
Here is a checklist to make sure you don’t forget things that
can be important.
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During
the summer
- Visit
your child’s doctor or health care professional, and fill
out a new asthma action plan. Give a copy to each of the child’s
teachers, school nurse, school secretary and after school
activity staff. While you are there, be sure to talk about
your child’s:
- technique
with peak flow meter, inhaler and spacer
- asthma triggers,
especially those that the child might have at school,
like exercise, animals, food allergies or
cold weather
- medications
and peak flow meter use at school
- Get
all medication/health forms from the school - don’t forget
the ones for sports or other activities
- Do
a school visit, check for:
- cockroaches
- dust mite sources
(often found in humid places and in pillows, carpets, apholstery
and stuffed toys)
- mold
- a smoke-free
school, including during school-sponsored events
If
you are concerned about any of the above, talk to the school
staff about getting the problems fixed before school starts.
Just
before school starts
- Fill
out all school, activity, medication and health forms
- Check
to see if all inhalers are full and in working order
- If
your child uses a nebulizer, make sure all of its parts are
clean.
- Label
all medications and asthma tools with child’s name and classroom
- Arrange
a meeting with child’s teacher and other school staff, include
the child in the meeting if possible
- Arrange
a meeting with child’s after school day care teachers, if
needed
At the meeting with the school/daycare staff, discuss
- Basics
of asthma and allergies
- Warning signs for your child’s asthma episodes
- Triggers,
such as animals in the classroom, cold air at recess, and
strong odors
- Your
child’s Asthma Management/Action Plan
- Your
child’s Emergency Plan, make sure staff knows what to do and
how to do it
- Medications
and access to medications. There is a law
in Michigan that allows students to carry their inhalers
with them at all times.
- Asthma
tools, such as peak flow meters, spacers, and nebulizers
- Emotional
aspects of your child’s asthma
- Gym
class and other times they play hard
- Missing
school and making up school work
- A
time for asthma education for the class – ask the school nurse,
doctor or local
asthma coalition if you need help talking about this or
arranging for someone else to do the talking.
- Any
other things parents and people caring for your child can
do to help the teacher/staff
During
the school year
- Be
sure to check often with teacher and other staff to make sure
they are not having problems following the asthma management
or action plan – if the plan changes, be sure to give the
school staff a new one, and review changes with them
- Make
sure there are enough medication supplies - use weekends and
school vacations to clean or replace valved-holding chambers/spacers
and peak flow meters, and check inhalers
Adapted
from “How Asthma-Friendly is Your School?”, National
Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, NIH, http://rover2.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/lung/asthma/friendhi.htm
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