{"id":321402,"date":"2010-02-15T08:00:54","date_gmt":"2010-02-15T13:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/childrenshospitalblog.org\/?p=4835"},"modified":"2010-02-15T08:00:54","modified_gmt":"2010-02-15T13:00:54","slug":"school-life-for-kids-post-cancer-takes-a-toll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/321402","title":{"rendered":"School life for kids post-cancer takes a toll"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-4836\" title=\"child doing school work\" src=\"http:\/\/childrenshospitalblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/stockphotopro_256524wcy_child_doing_home-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"child doing school work\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/p>\n<p>by Marybeth Morris, Ed.M.<\/p>\n<p>The advancement of medical science in diagnosing and treating certain pediatric cancers such as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.childrenshospital.org\/az\/Site659\/mainpageS659P0.html\">brain tumors<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.childrenshospital.org\/az\/Site1236\/mainpageS1236P0.html\">leukemia <\/a>has led to increased survival rates for pediatric cancer patients. Due to neurocognitive deficits and physical sequelae, many child cancer survivors face significant challenges upon their return to school and throughout their academic career.<\/p>\n<p>Schools often perceive that once a child\u2019s treatment has ended, he or she will return to \u201cbaseline\u201d and not necessarily require continued academic and emotional supports. Parents may also be uncertain about a few things.<span id=\"more-4835\"><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The continuing educational needs of their child<\/li>\n<li>How to ask for additional support<\/li>\n<li>What their specific rights are in ensuring an appropriate education for their child.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It\u2019s important for parents and teachers to be aware of the subtle, and not so subtle, signs that a child may have an emerging deficit or weakness so that identification and intervention can begin as early as possible.<\/p>\n<p>The most commonly reported deficits resulting from surgery, chemotherapy and\/or radiation to the brain or spinal column include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Attention      and executive function difficulties<\/li>\n<li>Poor      memory<\/li>\n<li>Slowed      processing speed<\/li>\n<li>Learning      disabilities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Children are particularly vulnerable during times of transition, such as that from elementary to middle school or middle to high school. Potential signs of distress include but are not limited to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>difficulty      developing and maintaining peer relationships<\/li>\n<li>impulsivity      and poor attention, organization and planning<\/li>\n<li>inability      to independently complete assignments<\/li>\n<li>task      avoidance<\/li>\n<li>slow      pace completing homework and in-class assignments<\/li>\n<li>poor      acquisition of reading and writing skills (connecting letters to sounds,      letter sequencing and spelling)<\/li>\n<li>math      difficulties (number sequences may be transposed, arithmetic signs      confused, difficulties with word problems)<\/li>\n<li>difficulty      remembering information and recalling facts including previously learned      information<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Most parents will, from time to time, see one or more of these warning signs in their children. If, however, a parent sees several of these characteristics over an extended period of time, formalized intervention may be necessary.<\/p>\n<p>Public school systems are legally obligated to evaluate a student in the areas of suspected disability if the child\u2019s parent requests an evaluation in writing. A typical core evaluation consists of an academic and psychological assessment. A psychological assessment always indicates cognitive testing, but may also include evaluation in the areas of social and emotional functioning and attention.\u00a0 School personnel must complete all evaluation measures within 30 school days of parental consent and a special education team meeting to review results must be held within 45 school days.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Watch one Children&#8217;s patient&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/childrenshospitalblog.org\/back-to-school\/\">return to school<\/a> after chemotherapy.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\t<a rel=\"nofollow\"  href=\"mailto:?subject=School%20life%20for%20kids%20post-cancer%20takes%20a%20toll&amp;body=http%3A%2F%2Fchildrenshospitalblog.org%2Fschool-life-for-kids-post-cancer-takes-a-toll%2F\" title=\"email\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/childrenshospitalblog.org\/wp-content\/plugins\/sociable\/images\/email_link.png\" title=\"email\" alt=\"email\" class=\"sociable-hovers\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a rel=\"nofollow\"  href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fchildrenshospitalblog.org%2Fschool-life-for-kids-post-cancer-takes-a-toll%2F&amp;t=School%20life%20for%20kids%20post-cancer%20takes%20a%20toll\" title=\"Facebook\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/childrenshospitalblog.org\/wp-content\/plugins\/sociable\/images\/facebook.png\" title=\"Facebook\" alt=\"Facebook\" class=\"sociable-hovers\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a rel=\"nofollow\"  href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/home?status=School%20life%20for%20kids%20post-cancer%20takes%20a%20toll%20-%20http%3A%2F%2Fchildrenshospitalblog.org%2Fschool-life-for-kids-post-cancer-takes-a-toll%2F\" title=\"Twitter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/childrenshospitalblog.org\/wp-content\/plugins\/sociable\/images\/twitter.png\" title=\"Twitter\" alt=\"Twitter\" class=\"sociable-hovers\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a rel=\"nofollow\"  href=\"http:\/\/digg.com\/submit?phase=2&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fchildrenshospitalblog.org%2Fschool-life-for-kids-post-cancer-takes-a-toll%2F&amp;title=School%20life%20for%20kids%20post-cancer%20takes%20a%20toll&amp;bodytext=%0D%0A%0D%0Aby%20Marybeth%20Morris%2C%20Ed.M.%0D%0A%0D%0AThe%20advancement%20of%20medical%20science%20in%20diagnosing%20and%20treating%20certain%20pediatric%20cancers%20such%20as%20brain%20tumors%20or%20leukemia%20has%20led%20to%20increased%20survival%20rates%20for%20pediatric%20cancer%20patients.%20Due%20to%20neurocognitive%20deficit\" title=\"Digg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/childrenshospitalblog.org\/wp-content\/plugins\/sociable\/images\/digg.png\" title=\"Digg\" alt=\"Digg\" class=\"sociable-hovers\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n\t<a rel=\"nofollow\"  href=\"http:\/\/delicious.com\/post?url=http%3A%2F%2Fchildrenshospitalblog.org%2Fschool-life-for-kids-post-cancer-takes-a-toll%2F&amp;title=School%20life%20for%20kids%20post-cancer%20takes%20a%20toll&amp;notes=%0D%0A%0D%0Aby%20Marybeth%20Morris%2C%20Ed.M.%0D%0A%0D%0AThe%20advancement%20of%20medical%20science%20in%20diagnosing%20and%20treating%20certain%20pediatric%20cancers%20such%20as%20brain%20tumors%20or%20leukemia%20has%20led%20to%20increased%20survival%20rates%20for%20pediatric%20cancer%20patients.%20Due%20to%20neurocognitive%20deficit\" title=\"del.icio.us\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/childrenshospitalblog.org\/wp-content\/plugins\/sociable\/images\/delicious.png\" title=\"del.icio.us\" alt=\"del.icio.us\" class=\"sociable-hovers\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/childrenshospitalblog\/~4\/9bV29O8grQk\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Marybeth Morris, Ed.M. The advancement of medical science in diagnosing and treating certain pediatric cancers such as brain tumors or leukemia has led to increased survival rates for pediatric cancer patients. Due to neurocognitive deficits and physical sequelae, many child cancer survivors face significant challenges upon their return to school and throughout their academic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":481,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-321402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/481"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321402\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}