Approximately 15% of children experience a significant illness prior to age 18 years. For many of them, school absenteeism, substandard academic performance, and social problems ensue. When disorders affect the central nervous system, some suffer global developmental delays or selective neuropsychological deficits. As health service providers, school psychologists understand both the educational process and the ways in which childhood illnesses can impact it. This article argues that school psychologists' breadth of knowledge enables consultation with teachers about health-related classroom accommodations and communication between medical professionals and educators. Epilepsy and type 1 diabetes mellitus are two conditions associated with a risk of school problems. Using these two disorders as examples, this article outlines roles for school psychologists and provides specific guidance about how they can promote success among all students with chronic illnesses. C 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.The first decade of the 21st century may be a turning point in school psychologists' practice due to the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (PL 108-446), which now encourages consultative services when students present with learning problems. As a result, gatekeeping-associated psychoeducational testing, sometimes equated with perfunctory IQ testing, may be greatly diminished by new guidelines for specific learning disability determination. If these legislative changes extend to practice, school psychologists may have more flexibility to consider practice alternatives. Division 16 of the American Psychological Association and the National Association of School Psychologists have advocated for health promotion for all students and focused consultation for the relatively few with documented illness (American Psychological Association, Division 16, 1998;Ysseldyke et al., 2006). This article concerns the second task-how to help students with recognized health problems and, in doing so, forge new and expanded ways to practice.School psychologists' concern with health-related issues is expanding. A literature search, which reviewed studies published in leading school psychology journals over a 21-year period, found that the publication of health-related articles has significantly increased (Wodrich & Schmitt, 2003). Furthermore, diverse health disorders (e.g., asthma, cancer, diabetes, epilepsy) are now addressed in these journals. Empirical information now appears regarding routine psychological practices that encompass health issues. For example, Carlson, Demaray, and Hunter-Oehmke (2006) found that 62% of school psychologists surveyed said that they collaborate with health care professionals in psychotropic medication trials. In another practitioner survey, Wodrich and Spencer (in press) found that more than 95% of school psychologists were currently involved in identifying students for other health impairment (OHI) services, including those with epilepsy, asthma, diabetes, and cancer.Frequen...

Ninety elementary-school teachers read information about a hypothetical student experiencing school-related problems due to Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), generated classroom accommodations to assist the student, and rated their confidence in these accommodations. Each teacher was provided one of three levels of information about T1DM: (a) no disease information, (b) basic disease information, and (c) basic disease information + classroom implications. Providing teachers with more information about T1DM increased their ability to accommodate a student's learning needs. Similarly, a lower proportion of disease-specific accommodations were generated by teachers receiving no disease information (37%) than by teachers receiving basic disease information or basic disease information ϩ classroom implications, and the later two groups were equivalent (47% for each). This study and future work concerning the effect of chronic illness on classroom performance and adjustment have implications for medical professionals, teachers, and school psychologists.

Two prior studies showed that giving teachers more information about a student's illness led them to make better attributions about that student's classroom problems and better classroom accommodations. In this study, 235 teachers appraised academic competence and judged whether to seek help or make a referral for a hypothetical student with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Teachers received one of five levels comprising increasing disease disclosure and classroom-relevant information about T1DM. Contrary to prior studies, teachers in this study who were given a student's T1DM diagnosis and details about T1DM's classroom risks failed to make better judgments about the student's academic skill levels or to award more accurate grades. Instead, teachers seemed swayed by this student's apparently careless and inconsistent schoolwork, which was presumably disease related. Likewise, better-informed teachers were no better at selecting accommodations. However, once it was disclosed that the hypothetical student had T1DM, most teachers seemed knowledgeable about the most appropriate potential Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act category for service delivery. Regarding practice issues, school psychologists were rarely selected as a first choice for consultation, and the more information teachers were provided with about T1DM and the student's disease status, the less likely they were to select a school psychologist as a consultant. C