Tomorrows Children's Fund - Hackensack University Medical Center

Educational support from Tomorrows Children's Fund

Learning through the ordeal of childhood cancer and blood disorders.

When a child is facing cancer or a serious blood disorder, education may not seem like a top priority. Yet even in the midst of this difficult time, school and learning remain important considerations and families have many educational concerns.

When can she return to the classroom? How will treatment impact his academic development? What can be done to ensure that her specific needs are met by the school system? Who will advocate on his behalf? Tomorrows Children's Fund sponsors L.E.A.R.N. (Liaison for Effective Academic Resources and Networking), an educational and guidance support program, to answer these questions and more.

The objective of our L.E.A.R.N. program is to share information regarding the effect of these diseases on learning and offer families and schools the practical help they need to address educational issues. Services include:

• Advocacy on behalf of families within school districts to ensure that children receive appropriate educational support

• Consultation on school placement and use of resources to meet children’s needs

• Education about disease, treatments and potential school-related effects

• Screening to monitor children’s educational development

• Coordination of diagnostic educational evaluations

• Consultation with patients through the Cure and Beyond program for long-term survivors.

In addition, Tomorrows Children's Fund offers professional tutoring services to children receiving care at the medical center. We've equipped the clinic with state-of-the-art computers featuring up-to-the-minute software to assist all children in their educational goals. And we provide financial aid to patients pursuing secondary education who maintain satisfactory grades.

Our hope is that by meeting the educational challenges of children with these devastating diseases, we can help them live and learn as fully as possible. During treatment and beyond.