While your child is hospitalized, it helps to stay connected with the teacher and classmates. Parents can call the teacher periodically and send notes or audiotaped messages from their child to classmates. Following are some suggestions for keeping the teacher and classmates involved with your child’s life:

• Have the hospital’s school liaison give a presentation to your child’s class about what is happening and how their classmate may look and feel when he returns to school. This talk should include a question and answer session to clear up misconceptions and alleviate fears. All children, especially teenagers, should be involved in deciding what information will be discussed with classmates and whether or not the child/teen wants to be present.
• Encourage your child’s classmates to keep in touch. The class can make a card or banner or send a group photo. Individual students can call on the phone or send notes, emails, text messages, or pictures.
• If possible, use Skype®, FaceTime®, or a similar webcam software application to allow your child to interact “face-to-face” with classmates using a laptop, tablet, or smartphone. Use of this technology provides a chance for classmates to see changes in appearance as they gradually occur during treatment. This may lessen the surprise about changes in appearance when your child returns to school.

My daughter missed 13 months of school (all of kindergarten). Most of that time, she was in the hospital. The district sent a tutor two to three times a week. A foundation called Omar’s Dream (http://omarsdream.org) provided an iPad® for home/hospital and one for the classroom. This allowed her to Skype® into class to participate, talk to classmates, and be part of the parties. Her classmates saw what she looked like and it made the transition back much easier. She was ahead academically at diagnosis, so she wasn’t behind when she returned to school.