Children with chronic health conditions spend most of their day in the school system. The complexity of illness management and disease sequela can alter their school experience. However, little is known about what educators are concerned about if these children are in their classroom. Objective: To assess educators' perceptions of the impact of having children with different chronic health conditions in the classroom. Methods: Teachers and other school professionals in 23 elementary schools

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... mentary schools were surveyed about the impact of having a child with each of 6 chronic health conditions-AIDS, asthma, congenital heart disease, diabetes mellitus, epilepsy, and leukemia-in the classroom. They responded to 13 statements about the potential academic impact on the child, impact on peers, personal risk or liability, and additional time or attention demands for the teacher. Total scores were determined for the degree of perceived impact for each issue and chronic health condition and the proportion of teachers with negative perceptions for different issues. Results: The mean total scores (2.4 of 5) showed over-(REPRINTED) ARCH PEDIATR ADOLESC MED/ VOL 158, JAN 2004 WWW.ARCHPEDIATRICS.COM 53