Tyra Bryant-Stephens, MD, talks asthma reminders ahead of school year

The summer months offer an ideal opportunity for families of children with asthma to take proactive steps ahead of the school year, according to Tyra Bryant-Stephens, MD, chief health equity officer at the Center for Health Equity and medical director of the Asthma Prevention Program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“When we talk about the school physical or asthma checkup, there are 5 things to review with parents,” Bryant-Stephens said. “The child’s asthma triggers, what they need from their doctor, talking to the school, making sure they are taking control medication, and making sure they have refills.”

In addition to asthma-specific medications and planning, Bryant-Stephens highlighted the role that allergy management plays in maintaining good control, especially during the back-to-school season.

“September is a bad time for allergies, so making sure allergies are controlled as well as asthma is important,” she said. “I often tell parents that if they take a vacation from allergy medications in July, they should restart them at the end of August so the child is less likely to have allergic symptoms that can trigger asthma.”

Although respiratory viruses are difficult to avoid once children return to crowded school settings, Bryant-Stephens said that managing known triggers, such as allergens and environmental factors, can still help minimize flares.

Practical strategies for children also make a difference. “I often tell children to pace before and after exercise,” she said. “We talk about a slow warm-up and slow cool-down. An abrupt start or finish can trigger symptoms.”

She emphasized that children can grasp the importance of building up to physical activity and gradually cooling down. “Children can understand the idea of slowly working up to vigorous activity for 5 minutes and then slowly winding down instead of stopping abruptly,” she added.

Environmental factors within the classroom also matter. Bryant-Stephens encouraged caution around dust accumulation from books that have not been used over the summer and dander exposure from classroom pets. “Be careful if books have sat on a bookshelf all summer; you do not want to be the first one to pull a book from the shelf unless the teacher has been able to clean,” she said. “Children need to wash their hands before and after handling the classroom pet.”