Parents and kids learn “All About Asthma” on Arthur site at pbskids.org

Ask any school nurse and they will tell you that asthma has reached epidemic proportions. One in every 13 school-aged children in the United States has asthma, and the disease accounts for ten million missed school days each year. Because it is such a widespread childhood disease, it is important for kids and their families to be well informed about it.

Recognizing the importance of asthma awareness and education, the presenters of Arthur on PBS have created an asthma supplement for the successful Arthur “Hooray for Health!” teachers’ guide called “All About Asthma.”

Available now on the Arthur Web site at http://pbskids.org/arthur/grownups/health_tips/asthma.html, this unit helps families learn what asthma is, what can trigger asthma attacks and how to stay active and healthy if they have asthma.

At the “All About Asthma” site:
Background information and classroom activities, including a Buster “All About Asthma” coloring sheet

“Stay Active With Asthma” maze game, which encourages kids to review environmental asthma triggers

Tips for parents, with basic information about asthma symptoms and management

An Arthur Asthma Treatment Plan for parents to complete and distribute to teachers and caregivers

Links to related asthma sites

Grown-Ups area at Arthur Web site
“All About Asthma” launches in conjunction with a redesign of the Grown-Ups area of the Arthur Web site at http://pbskids.org/arthur/grownups/index.html.

The redesign arranges the resources to make access easier for parents and educators. Also new to the site is a “Welcome to the Web Parent Guide.” Parent Guides are available online in both English and Spanish, while Health Information tipsheets are available as PDF files in English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog and Vietnamese. Stay tuned for new additions: a media literacy teacher guide (in the news and information area) and a feature explaining some of Arthur’s access features, such as the two streams of captioning and the description track.