School in Session Even with Cancer
Learning Gives Pediatric Patients Education and Hope

Laura and Tony Muscat learned their son, Connor, had cancer the month before he was to enter the sixth grade. They were relieved to hear he could receive treatment and also go to school.

Many cancer centers have educational programs designed to work around a patient’s illness, says Martha Askins, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and educational coordinator for the M. D. Anderson Department of Pediatrics.

“We believe school bolsters a young patient’s adjustment to cancer treatment, and we want patients to continue their academic development,” Askins says.

Parents can ask doctors at their treatment centers about available school-related services.

M. D. Anderson’s educational program, for example, includes an all-day, on-site school with certified teachers, homebound tutoring, tutoring at the hospital and career counseling for older students.  

M. D. Anderson patients can use the options listed above inter-changeably. This was a relief to the Muscats.

“They told us we can use a combination of these programs depending upon how Connor is feeling each day,” Laura Muscat says. “To a parent that is very helpful because you just never know how he is going to feel.”

Balancing Treatment and School

Over the course of the school year, Connor will be undergoing 40 rounds of chemotherapy and radiation. Side effects from treatment – such as fatigue and nausea – as well as treatment itself can keep patients like Connor away from their regular classrooms for one to several days at a time. Connor already has had a few unscheduled hospital visits, the most recent due to fever, a complication of chemotherapy.  

Laura Muscat is hopeful Connor can attend his community junior high school – where he is one of appoximately 100 children accepted into an accelerated program – at least 50% of the time. A member of the robotics team and band, he wants to be involved as much as possible. 

“I didn’t see how he was going to keep up with the workload, but with M. D. Anderson’s on-site school and tutoring, we’re going to do the best we can,” she says. “He can’t do it all, but the school is going to work with him. And his M. D. Anderson teacher told us he can do assignments here and she can fax them to his regular school."

Creative Adjustments for Handling the Workload

She does not want her son to fall behind in school because of how it might affect his self-esteem. “School is his identity at this age," Muscat explains. "I don’t want him to have to repeat the grade, if possible, because that can be devastating to any child when his peers are moving on without him. He’s going through enough devastation right now to have to deal with that.”

A former school teacher herself, Muscat advises other parents to speak up and ask for what they need. Two things she will request for Connor is that instead of a P.E. class, he be given a study hall period to catch up on work and that he also be given shorter and fewer assignments. For example, Instead of a math assignment with 30 problems, he could be given one with 15.

“A child with cancer can’t do all the work,” she says. “And the parent has a right to ask for certain things. We also applied for homebound status (permission to have a homebound teacher make visits to the child's home when needed) through the (Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973) 504 medical code.”

Rights for Cancer Patients

Knowing a child’s rights is very important. Educational laws classify children with cancer as "other health-impaired", meaning they are eligible for certain federal programs:

Public Law 94-142: Requires that each state provide a free and appropriate public education for all handicapped individuals (including other health-impaired) between the ages of 3 and 21. It also mandates that patients be given an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), a tailor-made curriculum that works around a patient’s illness. 

Public Law 93-112, Section 504: The Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits discrimination, protects the rights of disabled and "other health- impaired" persons and allows for home tutoring and IEPs.  

School’s Healing Properties

As with any child’s education, learning needs to be balanced with fun and nurturing. That is especially important for young cancer patients. M. D. Anderson provides that through several educational and curriculum enrichment activities.

They include:

• Mad Science classes – fun hands-on science projects
• Creative writing 
• Children’s Art Project classes
• Educational field trips
• Exercise programs

In addition to school broadening the mind, it also heals the soul for a young cancer patient, Askins says.

“Our educational programs not only help patients keep up so they can return to school, but also gives them a great emotional boost,” Askins says. “Learning with their peers in the classroom environment and having caring interactions with teachers provides a sense of normality.”

Laura Muscat agrees. “I think school helps kids’ self-esteem. And if people tell a child he can go to school while going through cancer treatment, he thinks, ‘they must believe I’m strong enough.’ It instills confidence in them.”

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