If the child is quite young, he or she might not yet realize what sort of environmental factors can cause an asthma attack. The parent needs to help the child recall any one thing that might have brought-on the child’s most recent asthma attack. The parent of an asthmatic child must help the child to recall where he or she has been.
Perhaps the child was in a very smoky room. Perhaps the child was playing on a freshly cut lawn. Perhaps the child had just walked past the perfume counter of a department store. The parent should try to pinpoint the spot where the asthma attack began.
Environments change over time. An asthmatic child needs to recall what activity was taking place in the room, or in the outside area, where the asthma attack began. Perhaps someone had been sawing or sanding wood in that vicinity. Perhaps someone had been spraying a room freshener in the area. Perhaps a homemaker had just shaken a rug in the backyard where the attack started.
Asthma triggers can be produced by changes in the activities that occupy an asthmatic child. A child who has no trouble doing recreational swimming might decide to try being in a swimming competition. The exertions then required from that child could bring-on an asthma attack.
An asthma trigger can sometimes lurk in the background. Suppose, for example, that a child had an asthma attack every time that she spent time in the home of her music teacher. The parent might find the home very clean, and without hint of a tell-tale odor. The parent might never notice the cat that remains in another room.
Perhaps the child failed to mention that cat. Perhaps the child forgot that he or she had come in contact with the cat. The parent must try to encourage the child’s ability to put two and two together.
The discovery of asthmatic triggers requires logical thinking. Once an asthmatic child learns how to deduce the cause for an asthma attack, he or she has improved his or her logical thinking. Such thinking can help with the solving of math and science problems.
The asthmatic child who struggles in physical education classes might thus become a star math or science student. Logical thinking can also help with the comprehension of a story plot. It might even lead to the crafting of original plots. An asthmatic child who likes to read and write might one day become a great playwright.
Children could use more literature that can help them to deal with asthma, and its related problems. Parents could use more information about how to help a child who suffers from repeated asthma attacks. Logically thinking writers, possibly those who once had to deal with asthma, should try to satisfy the needs of both asthmatic children and their anxious parents.