The Pre-School Child in an Asthma Rehabilitation Program

Abstract

Robert Louis Stevenson, a victim of pulmonary tuberculosis, once wrote, “Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well.” This philosophy is particularly appropriate to the small child who demonstrates that he is a severe asthmatic early in life. It is generally agreed that the onset of asthma occurs more often in the first two years of life than at any other age. Even adults with chronic asthma will likely trace their initial episode to early childhood, and it is probably a fair assumption that a chronic asthmatic adult represents a failure on the part of a physician to recognize and treat the condition adequately when the patient was a child. It therefore behooves the pediatrician to identify an asthmatic child early and give him the benefit of a thorough allergy survey to find out what kind of cards he is really holding. Only then can the physician play his hand well and give his patient a good deal.