Using This Online Manual
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Using This Online Manual
Click to select:
- The Goal of RAP
- Scripted Dialogue
- Use of Puff the Puppet
- Timing and Duration
- Group Size
- Communication Needs
- Curriculum Guides
- Visual Cues
- Before You Start
- Supplies
- When You are Finished
The Goal of RAP
The goal of RAP is to help children with asthma develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they require to manage their asthma and live an active, healthy lifestyle.
Scripted Dialogue
This manual has suggested dialogue to help you interact with children and become comfortable in teaching children in a group setting. This dialogue is not intended to be a script. We encourage you to develop your own style of teaching and interacting with children, while adhering to sound teaching principles and achieving the goals and objectives of this program.
Use of Puff the Puppet
Many health professionals are less comfortable educating children than adults. Puff the Puppet can help overcome this lack of comfort and enhance the educational value of the sessions for children.
Depending on the age of the children, Puff is useful to:
- engage the children in learning
- summarize all content for each session
- act as a mascot while wearing the school T-shirt
- reward or encourage desirable behaviour (for example, students that actively participate can hold and use Puff at the end of the session)
- manage classroom behaviour
The puppet tips section highlights useful tips for using puppets as a teaching tool. Practice is vital to the success of any program. Practice in front of a mirror using Puff to create a natural dialogue with the children.
Timing and Duration
The program has been taught at various time periods, including before, during and after school, weekends and evenings. It is most commonly taught at lunch time. The time allotted for lunch breaks varies from school-to-school. Sessions may need to be adapted to fit the available time slot and it may be necessary to add extra sessions to cover all the content. Factors that can impact attention span or learning—such as eating time, the need to stretch or move, over tired students and information overload—must be considered.
Group Size
The ideal group size for the sessions appears to be eight children.
- When a group is too large, the learning outcomes are compromised.
- When a group is too small, the games become more difficult to play, there is less peer support and it is more difficult to find common ground among group members.
The list of learning activities include suggestions for larger and smaller group sizes. A number of these activities can be adapted for a clinic setting.
Communication Needs
- Send a brief outline of the program, including the calendar of events, home with each student prior to starting the sessions.
- Communicate any concerns about a child's asthma control to the child's parents and possibly teachers.
- Communicate to parents throughout the program, if appropriate.
- Capture any opportunity to work with the school to facilitate an optimal school environment and staff awareness. Talk to the teachers concerning specific needs and concerns that may arise throughout the program.
- Provide a list of other asthma resources to parents and teachers (see Asthma Resource List).
Curriculum Guides
For each session activity, the curriculum will indicate the following outcomes:
- Know What – Knowledge, attitudes and opinions you want the children to acquire.
- Do What – Skills, habits and behaviours you want the children to accomplish or attain.
- So What – Quality of life, self-efficacy and health outcomes you want the children to achieve as a result of the session.
- Now What – Practical action you want the children to perform in their class, with friends and at home.
Visual Cues
The following visual cues will help you quickly identify certain aspects of your discussion:
suggestions and ideas for the instructor
suggested language that you can use
where to use the puppet as a teaching tool and suggested puppet script
a question you might want to direct to the group
optional education resource materials, like the RAP Fun Book
a game or hands on learning activity
Before you Start
Prior to the first session, collect and review information about each child’s asthma, including medication use, level of control and quality of life. This can be obtained from the parents in different ways, including by:
- offering a Meet and Greet session, where you can ask for the information
- sending home a form letter for parents to complete and return to you
- sending home a form letter, offering a contact phone number or asking for email addresses for further correspondence
Whichever option you select to obtain information, be sure that you have some form of consent.
The school office should remind students of each session via the intercom. Ask the announcer to use a name for the group, such as "The RAP Club" or a name the students select. Ensure that the announcements DO NOT refer to the "Asthma Group".
Identify a student each week to act as a group leader and assist with organization and distribution of materials.
Supplies
At the first session, you need to bring:
- a RAP Fun Book for each child
- your choosen assessment tool
- Asthma Action Plan Diary
- name tags
Each week, you need to bring general supplies such as the RAP Instructor's Guide, Puff puppet, attendance record and sticker or stamp, markers/pencils, peak flow meter and device demos and, if you so choose, a treasure box.
In addition, you need to bring supplies for the learning activities or games that you have chosen to do with your group. The supply list is in the Learning Activities and Games section.
When you are finished
At the end of each session, critique how the session went. We suggest that you make notes on:
- what aspects you would change
- how you felt about the session
- what you enjoyed
- your perceptions of the children's responses
Summarize your comments on the instructor critique form (see Evaluation Tools).
