INDIANA – If Dr. Curtis Thill of Southern Indiana Community Health Care could give parents one piece of advice, it would be this: the annual well-child visit deserves a spot on the to-do list.
Why the well-child visit is important
A yearly physical is more than a signature on a form. It’s a chance to see whether your child is growing and developing the way we’d expect, to make sure vaccinations are current, and to confidentially talk through balanced meals, sleep, exercise, and any worries about learning, behavior, or mood. It’s also when we can knock out those annual forms, the ones that always seem to turn up in a folder the night before they’re due.
As a reminder on vaccines, Indiana requires certain immunizations for school attendance, with additional ones at key grade levels. These include kindergarten, sixth grade, and twelfth grade. That list generally includes DTaP/Tdap, polio, MMR, chickenpox, hepatitis A and B, and the meningococcal vaccine for middle and high school students.
Since they don’t come up every day, that may sound like a lot, and parents oftentimes have questions. This is one of the reasons it’s good to have a direct conversation with a qualified medical provider.
Addressing physical issues that can inhibit learning
Vision and hearing are worth a look, too. In three decades of practicing medicine, I have never once had a child walk in and announce in a voice that only children have, “Doctor, I believe I need corrective lenses.”
What I hear instead comes from parents: “he squints,” “she gets headaches,” or “he asks us to repeat everything,”
The point? Sometimes the difficult issue that seems to come across like a school problem is really an eyeglasses problem.
When you should connect with the school nurse
If your child manages asthma, diabetes, allergies, or seizures, please connect with the school nurse before the year gets too far along and before problems develop. Send updated medication orders, refresh emergency contacts, and check the dates on inhalers and epinephrine auto-injectors. Expired rescue medication in the nurse’s office does nobody any good.
School issues: simple worry, or attention-sapping anxiety?
Mental health belongs on the list as well. Going back to school brings excitement and, for plenty of kids, a knot in the stomach. Ask how they’re feeling about it. Ask about friendships, about bullying, about what they do when something feels like too much. If you notice changes in sleep, appetite, mood, or behavior that stick around for more than a couple of weeks, a one-on-one talk with your provider is a good idea.
The rest is old-fashioned and still true. Children ages 6 to 12 need nine to twelve hours of sleep; teenagers need eight to ten. Eat breakfast. Move every day. Put the screens down before bed. Wash hands, cover coughs, skip the shared water bottle, and stay home with a fever or a stomach bug.
And you athletes: drink a lot of water, wear the gear, and tell a coach immediately about any head injury.
Finally, don’t wait. Call now and help your child be healthy, confident, and ready to learn.
Board-certified in family medicine, Curtis Thill M.D. has seen multiple generations of children at Southern Indiana Community Health Care on their way back to school.
