A Letter for the Teacher/School Which You May Find Helpful to Use As It Is Or to Adapt

A letter for the teacher/school which you may find helpful to use as it is or to adapt.

Dear Sir/Madam,

My son/daughter, (delete as applicable) will be in your class this year, so I wanted to give you some information about (child’s name) that may be helpful.

(Child’s name) has Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) which is an inflammatory condition which mainly affects the joints but can, in rare cases, also affect the internal organs and the eyes. (Child’s name) has had JIA since the age of (insert child’s age) years. More often than not, you will not notice any difference between (child’s name) and his/her peers as his/her condition is maintained by medications including (insert medications, if your child is on methotrexate for example, you may also want to include this phrase - in case you notice bruising at the injection site on her arms/legs (delete as applicable).

(Child’s name) has arthritis in his/her (list the joint(s) where your child has arthritis) which cause him/her stiffness and, at times, pain. Fatigue is, at times a side effect of his/her medications as well as the JIA itself. This will likely be most apparent (insert time of day if applicable e.g. before noon). He/she may need to get up from his/her chair as inactivity can cause him/her to become stiff, or conversely, he/she may need to take a seat at times as being overactive may cause joint pain.

In the event of a “flare”, the above symptoms will be considerably intensified, perhaps even making it impossible to walk, dress him/herself, or perform activities of daily life. Whilst some patients may be more affected by the cold weather e.g. more pain, stiffness etc., ‘flares’ can be triggered by all kinds of things including viruses (to which he/she is more susceptible to due to both the disease itself and the medications used to treat it), or trauma to an affected joint for example.

(Child’s name) often has hospital appointments and whilst I try to schedule these outside school hours, sometimes it’s not possible to do so and so he/she may be absent from school on occasions for this reason. I will try to let you know as far in advance as possible of any scheduled appointments so that he/she/we can prepare for his/her absence.

If you have any questions about (child’s name) arthritis, please feel free to contact me or his/her father, (insert name) with any questions, requests, or concerns about anything and thank you.

This letter was adapted from a letter posted on the Juvenile Arthritis Friends Facebook page on 30th July 2014 by a parent.