School Resources for PANS/PANDAS
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There are no set guidelines for supports and accommodations for students with PANS/PANDAS within the school setting. PANS/PANDAS is not a "one size fits all" medical condition therefore individualized support is required. Most students with PANS/PANDAS are eligible for accommodations and supports under a 504 plan if the medical condition substantially hinders the student’s ability to participate and manage the education curriculum. Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), are required for some students with PANS if special education and/or special services are warranted. Every child with PANS/PANDAS has different severity of symptoms and dissimilar symptoms from one student to the next. For most, school is difficult and requires appropriate accommodations and supports. Some children are too sick to attend school and will require home bound instruction.
These school resource pages are designed to assist teachers, school nurses, administration and parents. More materials are being created so please check back often. |
Would you like for NEPANS to come speak to your school or to your group? NEPANS has held numerous meetings with School Nurse organizations; we have met with over 250 school nurses and more are being scheduled. Read More.
PANS in the School Setting
PANS/PANDAS diagnostic criteria includes OCD and/or Severe Food Restrictions along with 2 of the following: Anxiety, Emotional Lability, Aggression, Behavioral/Developmental Regression, Deterioration of Learning Abilities, Sensory and Motor Abnormalities, and Somatic Signs.
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Individualized Health Care Plans - IHCP
School Nurses and Educators often see symptoms and manifestations of PANS that are not seen at home as is vice versa. They are in a unique position to identify abrupt changes, new symptoms or behaviors previously overlooked, which can be a crucial part of the diagnostic criteria. Continual dialogue is needed between educators, school nurses, and parents to help the student participate meaningfully in school.
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“Increased awareness [in PANS], however, has not yet translated into readily-available school and community supports, resulting in significant difficulties for students with PANDAS or PANS, and their families throughout the educational process. Our special education processes, often, rely on the assumption that students will make progress throughout the year. In contrast, students with PANDAS or PANS may demonstrate rapid shifts in their social, emotional or academic functioning as their systems react to, then recover from, illness. Teachers may, understandably, be baffled that the student who was passing math last week is now failing the class and acting out daily. Frequently, students with PANDAS or PANS experience such heightened anxiety that it is difficult to attend school at all, and their immune systems may not be able to tolerate exposure to peers during the height of cold and flu season. Teachers already juggling new curriculum, new tests and new evaluation rules may find it virtually impossible to also learn about new neurological disorders and how to accommodate them in the classroom.” Little Known Disorder Underscores Education Needs Patricia Rice Doran (Baltimore Sun-2014) |
PANS Resources for School Nurses
Is It PANS, CANS, or PANDAS? Neuropsychiatric Pediatric Disorders That Are Not Black and White--Implications for the School Nurse
Kathy Bagian, MSN, RN, CSN, Sheila Q. Hartung, PhD, RN (NASN-2015) Article Abstract PANDAS in the School Setting Kathy O’Rourke, MA (School Nurse News-2003) Read More NEPANS - Individualized Health Care Plans information Read More PANS Resources for PsychologistsUnderstanding the Impact: A Pyschologist's View
Lisa Scholder, LP Read More at PANDASNetwork What school psychologists should know about streptococcal infections By Ashley S. Fournier (Division of School Psychology-2012) Link Broken - Trying to Locate |
PANS Resources for SLPs
Effects of PANDAS/PANS on Communication: What SLPs Need to Know"
by Kelly Ward, MS, CCC-SLP and Jessica Edelstein, MA, CCC-SLP :) ASHA Presentation - Read More PANS Resources for Neuro-Psychologists
Infection Induced Encephalopathy: Cognitive and Sensory Impairments
Dr. Judith G. Leventhal, PhD. Watch on YouTube or See Below Neurocognitive Functioning in Youth With Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated With Streptococcus -Adam B. Lewin, Ph.D., A.B.P.P.; Eric A. Storch, Ph.D.; P. Jane Mutch, Ph.D.; Tanya K. Murphy, M.D. (Journal of Neuropsychiatry-2011) Full Article |
Infection Induced Encephalopathy: Cognitive and Sensory Impairments
Dr. Judith G. Leventhal, PhD.
Dr. Judith G. Leventhal, PhD.
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Excused Absence Laws
Students with PANS are medically fragile. As such, students with PANS may be absent from school more than 9 times a year. Therefore, when absences are medically necessary, they can obtain excused medical absences from their doctor and should not be counted as truant. Some students will be absent sporadically while others will need to be absent from school for longer period of times. The School Nurse, staff, parent, medical doctor should collaborate to determine plans for frequent but sporadic missed days as well as extended absences. Please note that under some circumstances extended absences will require Home Bound instruction.
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Home Bound Laws
Students with PANS are medically fragile. As such, students with PANS may be absent for extended periods of time and may require Home Bound instruction. Home Bound Instruction is considered the most restrictive placement. Students with PANS may require this placement when a) they are too sick to attend school for extended periods b) require a non-infections environment that the school can’t provide. Instruction is designed to ensure the continuity of educational services between school and home placement. The goal is to facilitate the return to the school setting, as it is a temporary placement.
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General Sped ResourcesSpecial Education Law
Read more at Wrightslaw IEPs – From Start to Finish Read more at Understood Difference between IEP & 504 plans Read more at Understood 504 Plans: 5 Common Pitfalls Read more at Understood 10 Defusing Phrases to Use at IEP Meetings Read more at Understood Tips for Parents Read more at Special Ed Justice What is Child Find? Read more at Wrightslaw The Child Find Mandate: What Does It Mean to You? Read more at Wrightslaw Child Find: What It Is and How It Works Read more at Understood |
New England Sped Resources
Connecticut Resources
Materials & Publications Read more at Connecticut Parent Advocacy Center - CPAC Special Education Law Read more at CT Law Help A Parent’s Guide to SPED in CT Read more at CT State Dept of Ed Massachusetts Resources A Parent’s Guide to Special Education Read more at The Federation for Children with Special Needs & The Massachusetts Department of Education Special Education Parent Information Read more at Massachusetts Department of Education Rhode Island Resources Rhode Island Parent Information Network Read more at RIPIN Special Education Regulations Read more at Rhode Island Department of Education |
Lyme-School Resources
How Lyme Affects Their Learning
Read more from Lyme Disease Association How Lyme Affects Their Learning Read More from Lyme Disease.org Identifying Lyme in Schools Read more from Lyme Disease Association In Services Ideas for Lyme Read more from Lyme Disease Association Distinct Pattern of Cognitive Impairment Noted in Study of Lyme Patients Read more from Lyme Times Lyme Disease and Cognitive Impairments by Robert Bransfield, M.D. Read more from Mental Health and Illness A Controlled Study of Cognitive Deficits in Children With Chronic Lyme Disease Read more from Lyme Disease Association Gifted Students and Lyme Disease: What Educators, Counselors, and Parents Need to Know by Patricia A. Schuler Read more from Gifted Child Today |
OCD-School Resources
A resource for school personal
OCD Education Station Imprisoned in Rituals: Unlocking the Gates of OCD Cherlene S.M. Pedrick, RN, Diana Harland, BS, CCR Course Description Tourettes-School Resources
Tics And Tourette's Syndrome: An Overview
Read More at SchoolBehavior.com Teaching Children with Tourette Syndrome Read more at ERIC Digest Tourette Education Help Read More at Tourette Syndrome Association |
ADHD-School Resources
40 Accommodation ideas for students with ADHD
Read ADDitudeMag.com At a Glance: Classroom Accommodations for ADHD Read more at Understood Teacher Helpline: How How Can I Help to Refocus a Student With ADHD? Read more at We Are Teachers Top ADD/ADHD Accommodations Read more at Promoting Success Implementing Executive Functioning strategies in your IEP Read more at A Day In Our Shoes Executive Functioning IEP Goals for ADHD and Organization Read more at Learning Abled Kids Sample IEP Goals that address Executive Functioning Read more at No Guile: Life and Other Stories from Autism Leading IEP Champion: Strategies to Improve Executive Functioning (EF) Read more at Global Genes |
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