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School Re-Entry Program
The school re-entry program at Children’s, established in 1983, helps children and teens with challenging medical problems address issues of returning to school. Through the program, child life specialists can help de-mystify a medical condition, decrease classmates’ fears, model appropriate, respectful language to describe a health problem, and help decrease the likelihood of rumors or teasing.
Some of the more common scenarios where school visits may be helpful include the following:
- Your child/teen is newly diagnosed.
- Your child/teen experiences long absences from school.
- Your child/teen has experienced major changes in treatment or physical appearance.
- Your child/teen or siblings have expressed a health-related concern about the school setting.
Child life specialists provide 250 school visits per year, largely to patients in Children’s hematology/oncology program. In recent years, the school re-entry program also has served patients with diabetes, epilepsy, cystic fibrosis, cardiac conditions, neuro-muscular disorders, trauma patients, and children in hospice care. In the program, child life specialists:
- Assess medical and developmental needs related to school readiness.
- Work with the patient, family members, teachers, school nurses, counselors, and/or principals to plan a classroom visit.
- Provide a developmentally-based curriculum, which may include photos of the hospital environment, a video/photo story illustrating your child’s/teen’s condition or experiences in the hospital, and/or a medical play session.
- Follow up with teacher surveys, ongoing activities, letters for classmates to bring home to parents, or other activities.
For more information about the school re-entry program, call Vicki Neis at (612) 813-6251 or Jeanine Clapsaddle at (612) 813-7132.
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