Fred Hutch eases school return for kids facing cancer’s aftermath

For kids with cancer, challenges often don’t end when cancer treatment ends. Returning to school can be uniquely difficult. Struggles range from coping with physical changes — like hair loss and fatigue — to emotional ones, like feeling anxious or sad over missing out on experiences.

That’s where the child life specialists and social workers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle come in. The team works closely with families to ease this delicate transition, developing school re-entry plans that offer tailored support and helping them access accommodations like individualized education programs and 504 plans.

Specialists also help the patient’s peers understand and support their adjustment to the classroom. One program in particular, Monkey in the Chair, helps classmates feel connected to the patient during their absence. A large stuffed monkey serves as a proxy for the missing student, and other students take ownership of it; it sits in the seat of the missing patient and is brought to classes and recess in place of the student, keeping them top of mind.

Support extends to siblings of patients and children of adult patients, who may also face disruptions in school and home life. 
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