Challenges Follow Young Cancer Survivors as They Return to School

(NewsUSA) - Of the estimated 12,500 children diagnosed with cancer each year, nearly 80 percent are cured and go on to lead healthy lives. As more children survive cancer, doctors have learned that treatments for some cancers, such as brain tumors and acute leukemia, can cause learning disabilities.

While survival is still the main goal, understanding how treatment affects a child's ability to transition back to school is also important, according to F. Daniel Armstrong, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist affiliated with Holtz Children's Hospital in Miami, and a member of the National Children's Cancer Society's medical advisory board.

Brain tumors and acute leukemia account for nearly half of childhood cancers. Their treatments affect the central nervous system, which can lead to learning problems, including:

* Fatigue

* Loss of learning abilities, such as the ability to remember visual information, to handwrite quickly and accurately, to keep pace with new material, and to plan and organize

* Problems keeping up with social conversations and detecting social cues

After treatment, as children's brains develop, new problems can arise if new skills fail to appear. Armstrong recommends that childhood cancer survivors have neuropsychological evaluations during treatment, at the end of treatment and at two-year intervals thereafter.

To ensure that the school understands what the child is going through, and what he needs in order to succeed, parents and school officials should communicate openly about the child's situation, including the side effects of treatments. According to Armstrong, they should consider continuing schoolwork during treatment, even while hospitalized, arranging for visits from friends and planning for school attendance, when possible.

In many cases, the parents and the school should develop a formalized Individualized Educational Plan for the child. To help children who have reading-comprehension or memory problems to succeed in school, the Plan may include accommodations such as:

* Allowing them to take tests without time limits

* Reducing written work and increasing oral presentations

* Using books on tape

* Using assistive technology like calculators, tape recorders and keyboards

For more information, visit the Beyond the Cure Web site at www.beyondthecure.org.

"Article By: NewsUSA"