ABSTRACT
Most of the time, when we imagine the typical child, we visualize a happy, energetic, giggly, innocent small person who craves new knowledge, who yearns for adult attention, and whose mind encompasses an imagination full of colorful, new ideas. We also envision the average child to be physically healthy. This assumption is not unwarranted due to the fact that the majority of children and adolescents are in good to excellent physical health (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2004b). In addition, the majority of the physical conditions that impact children/adolescents during childhood are illnesses (or death) that could have been prevented (CDC, 2004b). Therefore, when discussing child and adolescent physical health, the prevention of childhood illnesses should be the primary focus. School counselors, as prevention specialists, have a unique opportunity to engage in this conversation. This chapter presents a brief overview of the physical health conditions that impact child/adolescent emotional development. This chapter is not intended to be a comprehensive literature review on any of the key areas, nor is it a medically based guide describing condition diagnosis. Instead, it is intended to serve as a primer (1) to help school counselors and other educators attain a basic understanding of how physical health issues affect students within a school context, (2) to present school counselors with knowledge that can inform community-based referrals for students, and (3) to provide a brief review of how school counselors and other educators can implement interventions in their schools to promote child/adolescent physical health.
