Family guide to school and learning
Your education companion for ages 3 - 22
When a young person has a heart defect, families often wonder how to support their learning. While many kids with heart defects learn in a typical way, others have learning difficulties that range from mild to severe.
Schools can be a source of challenge for many kids. But schools can also be an invaluable source of support, as they offer critical services to support healthy development.
By learning to navigate schools and learning, you can help kids with heart defects to reach their goals.
Starting with the basics
Key moments in education
Do you want to support your child’s education and learning, but aren’t sure where to start?
Don’t worry: we can help. We've highlighted key moments and actions that can guide you to the most important decisions at different points of your child's academic careers. By starting here, you can make sure you have the most critical things covered.
Understanding the course of learning
As children progress through school, they pass through typical stages of learning. At each stage, they face challenges, goals, and opportunities.
Kids with CHDs can struggle with learning, and the ways they struggle are often predictable. By understanding their learning needs, adults can intervene earlier and more effectively. In the early years, most kids with CHDs have similar needs. As they get older, they often end up on different paths. Our goal is to support all learners, on all paths.
Preschool and Pre-Kindergarten: classroom readiness skills, basic knowledge like shapes, numbers, and letters
Elementary School: foundational skills such as reading, writing, and arithmetic
Middle School: more abstract thinking, and applying what they know to reason independently
High School: adult-like academic skills and independent living
18-22 and Post-Secondary: preparing for adulthood: college, trade school, work, public 18-22 programs
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Exploring your child's learning
Babies are born with the minds of scientists: curious and ready to explore. They learn new things every day as they come to know and understand their world.
As babies grow into toddlers and then preschoolers, they often start learning some early school skills.
Early school learning is very different from child to child, depending on their experiences:
Some young children stay home, and do not practice school skills
Some young children stay home, and learn school skills with their family
Some young children go to preschool, and learn academic skills at school
Some young children go to a preschool that does not teach early academic skills
Young children are often most ready for Kindergarten if they learn at least some early school skills when they are 2, 3, and 4. Family members can practice these skills at home, and children can learn them at a daycare or preschool.
Typical skills most young children learn
Every child learns at their own pace, and there is a wide range of healthy development. Delays are not always a sign of a problem, and intervention can always help children to make progress.
However, most children can learn certain skills and concepts by the time they turn five. Learning these skills and concepts can help them to prepare for formal schooling.
When they are taught, most 4-year-olds can learn these early reading skills:
Saying or singing the alphabet
Naming single letters
Recognizing their own written name
Saying whether or not two words rhyme
Finding rhyming words in a poem or song
Saying the first sound in a word
When they are taught, most 4-year-olds can learn these early writing skills:
Holding a pencil with their thumb, forefinger, and middle finger (tripod grasp), with their arm and hand resting on the table
Copying shapes such as a diagonal line, square, circle, and triangle
Imitating letters by drawing a row of lines and curves
Drawing objects
Families with CHDs who are local to Boston can find educational services through the Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Program. Click here for more information:
When they are taught, most 4-year-olds can learn these early math skills:
Recognizing and naming common shapes
Noticing shapes in the real world
Reciting numbers in order
Counting groups of objects
Sorting objects by size or color
Matching written numbers with their names and the quantities they represent
Families with CHDs who are local to Boston can find educational services through the Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Program. Click here for more information:
Learning challenges, delays, and differences
Young children with CHDs often face challenges that make early learning difficult. In most cases, children eventually catch up with their peers. In some cases, children may continue to find learning hard.
Timely, targeted intervention can help all young children with CHDs make progress to the best of their ability.
Young children with CHDs often have different experiences from many of their peers. For example, they might:
Spend a lot of time in the hospital
Not be able to go to daycare or school
Often be recovering from an illness
Because of these different experiences, young children with CHDs may learn school skills later than many other children.
Some young children with CHDs have differences in how their brains or bodies work. For example, they might have:
A genetic diagnosis that affects brain development
A brain injury
Trouble controlling their hands or bodies
Very little language
These differences can mean children need to work extra hard to learn.
Caregivers may wonder if it is a problem if their young child with a CHD does not know early school skills like letters, numbers, and shapes.
When a child has not been taught school skills, then it is not a sign of a problem if they do not know them.
When a child has been taught school skills and has a lot of trouble learning or remember, then they might need some extra help.
Families with CHDs who are local to Boston can find educational services through the Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Program. Click here for more information:
A 4- or 5-year-old child may be showing early signs of a reading problem if they:
Learn numbers much more easily than letters
Do not understand rhymes
Cannot recognize their own name
Cannot say the first sound in a word
A 4- or 5-year-old may be showing early signs of a math problem if they:
Cannot recite the numbers up to at least 20
Cannot count small sets of objects
Learn letters much more easily than numbers
Cannot match written numbers with the amount they represent
Do not remember basic shapes
A 4- or 5-year-old may be showing early signs of a writing problem if they:
Hold their pencil in a fist
Cannot draw lines and curves
Do not remember what letters look like
Cannot copy a letter or shape
Caregivers should talk to their child’s pediatrician or teacher if they notice any of these challenges. Remember: if the child has not been taught these skills yet, then it is not a problem if they do not know them. These are only signs of a problem if the child has been taught the skills, and is having trouble learning them.
No matter what children are experiencing, all children can learn, and all children have the right to learn. Caregivers and educators can work together to make sure that all children make as much progress as possible.
Families with CHDs who are local to Boston can find educational services through the Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Program. Click here for more information:
What Makes a Good Preschool?
Going to preschool is an important intervention for many young children with CHDs. In some cases, families have a choice about which preschool to choose.
Here are some tips for choosing a preschool that can meet the needs of your developing child.
At home support
Parents are a child's most important teachers. There are many things you can do to help your young child develop the skills and knowledge they will need for Kindergarten.
Services to support learning
Some young children struggle with learning much more than their peers. They can get professional help to build skills even before they enter Kindergarten.
When a caregiver worries about learning, the first step is to talk to their pediatrician or local cardiac neurodevelopmental program. Their doctor can usually help them find local resources.
Interventions for learning
Children's brains are constantly growing and developing, and they can always learn. Throughout the school years, interventions can help children to learn most effectively, and to feel successful as students.
We have highlighted a few interventions that help many kids with heart defects. Many others are available.
Explore the selected interventions below, search our resources, or visit our Power of Intervention page to find what is right for your family. Help is always available.
Jeremiahs: a heart story
When the right teaching makes all the difference
After his heart transplant, Jeremiahs was excited to go back to school. But then, his first classroom was not a good fit: Jeremiahs was not learning, and was becoming anxious.
Read about how Jeremiahs's family and providers worked together to find a setting where Jeremiahs can thrive.
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