Factors affecting the school achievements of asthmatic children: A review

Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease which is experienced by a large number of Australian schoolchildren. Although these children are of comparable intelligence to their non-asthmatic peers, they generally achieve less well at school. In the paper we review the literature on the following factors in an attempt to explain the depressed educational achievements: 1) neurological damage resulting from anoxia during asthma attacks; 2) side effects of medication used to control asthma; 3) frequent absence from school, and 4) attitudes and expectations of teachers, parents and peers. Clearly more research is required to investigate the interaction between these factors