You can control the impact asthma has on your child's life by following your asthma plans consistently. A management plan can reduce inflammation to prevent long-term damage to your child's lungs and decrease the severity, frequency, and duration of asthma attacks. Your child may have difficulty following the plan because of its many different factors.

To help you and your child remain consistent in following your asthma plans:

• Educate yourself and your child about asthma. By doing so, you can learn to control symptoms and reduce the risk of your child developing asthma attacks. This questionnaire can help you and your child determine what you already know about asthma and what you may need to discuss with your health professional.
• Understand your child's barriers and solutions. What may prevent your child from following his or her plan? These may be physical barriers, such as living far from your health professional or pharmacy, or emotional barriers, such as having undiscussed fears about the condition or unrealistic expectations. Discuss your child's barriers with your health professional and work to find solutions.
• Develop goals that relate to your child's quality of life. Being able to measure success gives your child greater motivation to follow asthma plans consistently. Decide together what you want to be able to do. Have symptom-free nights? Be able to exercise on a regular basis? Feel secure in knowing you both can deal with an asthma attack? Work with your health professional to see if your child's goals are realistic and how to meet them.

Your child's asthma plans generally consist of the following:

• Seeing your child's health professional regularly to monitor the asthma. The frequency of checkups depends on how your child's asthma is classified. Doctors recommend checkups about every 6 to 12 months for mild intermittent or mild persistent asthma that has been under control for at least 3 months; every 3 to 4 months for moderate persistent asthma; and every 1 to 2 months for uncontrolled or severe persistent asthma. Bring your asthma plans to the appointments.
• Following your child's daily asthma treatment plan. The plan helps you prevent or slow development of the long-term effects of asthma and describes which medications to take every day. A daily treatment plan also may include an asthma diary where you and your child record his or her peak expiratory flows, symptoms, triggers, and quick-relief medication used for asthma attacks. This valuable tool helps your health professional manage your child's asthma. A daily asthma treatment plan is often combined with an asthma action plan.
• Following your child's asthma action plan. This contains directions for the management of asthma attacks at home. It helps you better control your child's asthma attacks by being aware of symptoms and knowing how to make quick decisions about medication and treatment. See an example of an asthma action plan.