Educational Services for Children with Chronic Illnesses: Perspectives of Educators and Families

Abstract

Two parallel studies examined schools' and families' perceptions of the needs of children with chronic illnesses. Samples of 80 California school districts and 72 families were interviewed regarding types of chronic illnesses and school services, perceptions of and barriers to services, strategies for overcoming barriers, and fears and concerns of children with chronic illnesses. Most students were served in regular classes or at home. The most common barriers named by districts were funding and lack of public and staff awareness. Barriers named by families included teachers' misunderstanding of the child's needs and misinformation about the illness. Families focused on social-emotional issues and the impact of illness on their child's life; districts emphasized school absences and falling behind in schoolwork.

Pediatric Hospital School Programming: An Examination of Educational Services for Students who are Hospitalized

“…For many of these children, hospital treatments save their lives while unintentionally compromising attention, memory, fatigue, visual scanning, and spatial abilities (Thies, 1999). In one study, 45% of students experiencing chronic illness performed below their peer comparisons and many reported that they disliked school (Lynch, Lewis, & Murphy, 1992). Given that illness and frequent and/or extended hospitalizations impair a child's participation in school, educational interventions become an essential component toward supporting this student population (Kaffenberger, 2006); though, as Thies (1999) asks, "Who is responsible for managing the education of […] children and adolescents with chronic illness?"…”

Opening the Door Further: Integrating Students with Complex Health Care Needs

“…While a greater proportion of students with complex health care needs also have disabilities requiring special education services, not all children with complex health care needs have special educational needs as defined by PL 94-142 (Council for Exceptional Children, 1988). In a recent study of a sample of school districts in California, Lynch, Lewis and Murphy (1992) reported that, on the average, only 31 % of the students in their district who were considered to have chronic illnesses were identified as having special education needs. Eightyfive percent of these students were in regular educational classrooms and received no special educational services.…”

“…Sometimes home stays are not long enough to meet the minimum-day criteria; absences may be brief, but frequent enough to disrupt education. Students with complex health care needs require flexible systems, ones that can adjust to the frequently changing educational needs of the students (Lynch, Lewis, & Murphy, 1992).…”

Hospital—school liaison: perspectives of health and education professionals supporting children with renal transplants

“…In the case of children with chronic renal failure specifically, the dearth of research on issues of hospital-school liaison -and issues of educational provision at large -has been particularly pronounced. Furthermore, the relatively few existing studies (completed in the UK and the USA) addressing educational issues in children with chronic medical conditions have investigated mainly the perspectives of the children, their parents and their teachers, whereas the views of health professionals -key people involved in the children's lives and care -are largely missing (Asprey and Nash, 2006;Bolton, 1997;Chacraborty and Hamer, 2005;Everett and Fulton, 2002;Harris and Farrell, 2004;Lynch et al, 1992;McCann et al, 2002;Mukherjee et al, 2000Mukherjee et al, , 2002Norris and Closs, 2003). This suggests a particular need for further research investigating health professionals' perspectives on the education of children with chronic illnesses.…”