Kids with Cancer Still Need School: The Providers Role

A surprising finding in our research with families affected by pediatric cancer is that providers and parents have quite different perceptions about communication around school related topics such as neurocognitive impacts of cancer or its treatment. This module will introduce you to misconceptions about parent/provider communication and share identified knowledge gaps associated with the school related challenges of children affected by pediatric cancer. This information will help you understand this under-recognized need and why improving parent-provider communication about schooling related issues is critical.

As a provider you are aware that cancer or its treatment can confer risks for neurocognitive impacts. Such impacts and other late effects can contribute to immediate and long-term schooling challenges. This module describes some less-well-known relationships between specific treatments and late-effect risks. It provides detailed recommendations for how to foster frequent, brief conversations with parents to help ensure they are aware of school related risks. This is important because parents are a critical advocate for their child and a necessary first step is that they become aware that they may need to play this role. Your communication with parents about these issues is vital to the process.

You didn’t go to medical school to teach parents about schooling challenges – but it can still be valuable to have a basic understanding of the vocabulary and processes that parents need to help support their children to succeed in school. This module provides an overview of the accommodations and services children affected by cancer are most likely to need. It clarifies what actions you can take to help as parents work with schools to determine if their child is eligible to receive them.

The previous modules have laid out the arguments for why parents need more support and they have given you important background information about schooling challenges, eligibility for services, and how to talk with parents about these issues. In this module, we provide detail the Back-to-School Roadmaps our team has created. The Roadmaps were created collaboratively with input from affected families and other stakeholders. You know from Module 2 how to have brief conversations with parents about schooling concerns – pairing those conversations with these Roadmaps can prepare parents to support their children to succeed in school. As you complete the Modules, we hope you take time to review the Roadmaps on your own and plan for how to begin having brief conversations with parents as you provide them with these tools.