Mayo Clinic Health System
  • Patient Online Services
  • Pay Bill Online
  • Request an Appointment
    • Services
    • Providers
    • Locations

      Minnesota

      • Adams
      • Albert Lea
      • Austin
      • Belle Plaine
      • Blooming Prairie
      • Butterfield
      • Caledonia
      • Cannon Falls
      • Fairmont
      • Faribault
      • Janesville
      • Kenyon
      • Lake City
      • Le Sueur
      • Mankato
      • Montgomery
      • New Prague
      • New Richland
      • Northfield
      • Owatonna
      • Plainview
      • Red Wing
      • Sherburn
      • St. James
      • St. Peter
      • Waseca
      • Waterville
      • Wells
      • Zumbrota

      Wisconsin

      • Arcadia
      • Barron
      • Bloomer
      • Chetek
      • Chippewa Falls
      • Eau Claire
      • Ellsworth
      • Glenwood City
      • Holmen
      • La Crosse
      • Menomonie
      • Mondovi
      • Onalaska
      • Osseo
      • Prairie du Chien
      • Rice Lake
      • Sparta
      • Tomah

      Iowa

      • Decorah
      • Lake Mills

      View map
    • Classes/Events
    • Blog
    • Wellness
    • Referrals
    • COVID-19
    • Request an Appointment
    • Patient Online Services
    • Pay Bills Online
    • Refer a Patient
    Posted By
    Katie Swanson, APRN, C.N.P., M.S.N

    Katie Swanson, APRN, C.N.P., M.S.N.

    Family Medicine

    Recent Posts

    • Two kids playing video games
      Speaking of Health
      Can children develop Type 2 diabetes?
      July 26, 2021
    Featured Topics
    • Behavioral Health
    • Cancer
    • Children's Health (Pediatrics)
    • COVID-19
    • COVID-19 Vaccine
    • Exercise and Fitness
    • Heart Health
    • Men's Health
    • Neurosurgery
    • Obstetrics and Gynecology
    • Orthopedic Health
    • Weight Loss and Bariatric Surgery
    • Women's Health
    Join our email newsletter
    Speaking of Health
    Wednesday, July 28, 2021

    Create an asthma action plan for your child

    Child on swing

    Asthma is one of the most common chronic conditions of childhood. It affects about 6 million children and adolescents in the U.S. This condition causes the lungs and airways to become inflamed when exposed to certain triggers, such as environmental allergens, exercise, weather changes or catching a respiratory infection.

    Childhood asthma can cause bothersome daily symptoms that interfere with play, sports, school and sleep. It is a primary reason why students miss days of school, and it can be dangerous if unmanaged.

    If your child has asthma, the back to school season is a great time to develop an asthma action plan. You can't be with your child all the time, so outlining a plan ensures that key adults in your child's life understand the condition and what to do in an emergency. Preventing asthma symptoms is better than treating them after they begin, and symptoms are much easier to manage if you begin treatment early. With good asthma management, your child should be able to live a normal, active life.

    Return to school brings changes

    Many children experience more asthma episodes after returning to school in the fall.

    A few reasons that autumn can be difficult for kids with asthma include:
    • Hard to avoid asthma triggers
      Children can more easily avoid asthma triggers while at home during the summer. These are environmental, allergy or exercise situations that start an asthma episode. When they go back to school in the fall, children can't control their environment as easily, and they could be exposed to more asthma triggers.
    • More viral illnesses
      More viral illnesses go around when children are around other people. especially in school. Viral illness can trigger exacerbations, and these illnesses are more common during the school year and in the winter.
    • Seasonal allergies
      Autumn brings seasonal allergies, specifically to mold and ragweed pollen. Allergies can trigger more asthma episodes for children.
    • New activities and adults
      Children may start new sports or have a new coach who does not know how to help a child avoid asthma triggers.

    Asthma action plan

    The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America created the asthma action plan template to provide information and instruction on how to properly manage and respond to the condition. People with asthma should complete the plan with help from family members and their health care team.

    For school children, an asthma action plan should include:
    • Emergency contact name and telephone number
    • Health care provider name and telephone number
    • Peak flow values
    • Medication names, dosing and frequency
    • Steps to take during an asthma episode
    • Outline of when to seek emergency medical care
    An asthma action plan uses a traffic light format to categorize asthma symptoms
    Asthma action plan
    • Green
      When in this section, your child is not coughing or wheezing and able to sleep through the night and play without shortness of breath. You should continue to use preventive medications.
    • Yellow
      Your child enters this section if showing signs of a cold, experiencing some symptoms or was exposed to a known trigger. This section outlines additional medications, such as rescue inhalers, and when to call the child's health care provider.
    • Red
      Your child is in this section when asthma symptoms are getting worse fast and immediate emergency medical care is required.

    A thorough plan ensures that all adults in your child's life, from the school nurse and bus driver to coach and grandparent, understand their unique experience with asthma and are on the same page with managing and responding to asthma episodes.

    Each person's experience with asthma is unique. Make sure that your child has his or her own asthma action plan, rather than following someone else's or only telling the school nurse that your child has an inhaler. Take steps to complete and distribute the plan so your child can minimize episodes and have the best learning experience possible this school year.

    Learn more about combating allergies and asthma during COVID-19 and controlling allergies to enjoy the fall season. 

    Katie Swanson is a nurse practitioner in Family Medicine in Waseca, Minnesota.


    For the safety of our patients, staff and visitors, Mayo Clinic has strict masking policies in place. Anyone shown without a mask was either recorded prior to COVID-19 or recorded in a non-patient care area where social distancing and other safety protocols were followed.
    Topics in this Post
    • Allergy and Asthma
    • Family Medicine
    • Pediatric Medicine
    • Children's Health (Pediatrics)
    • Respiratory Care
    • Pulmonology

    Related Posts

    Vaping A doctor's warning about the dangers of vaping
    Two kids with backpacks running to school Back-to-school checklist: Are your kids ready?
    Children playng finger game Helping your child's education through an IEP or 504 plan

    Stay Connected

    • Contact Us
    • Notice of Nondiscrimination
    • Notice of Privacy Practices
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • About Us
    • Careers
    • Volunteer
    • Donate
    • For Patients & Visitors
    • Financial Assistance
    • Community Resources
    • Mayo Clinic Connect
    • For Medical Professionals
    • Press Room
    • Mayo Clinic
    • Home
    © 2018 - 2022 Mayo Clinic Health System