The Academic Journeys of Students with Chronic Gastrointestinal Illness: Narratives from Daughters and Their Mothers

Abstract

Today, more and more children and adolescents are surviving illnesses. There are also increases in outpatient care and continuous technological advancements, as compared to past decades. These changes give students with chronic illness greater opportunities to attend mainstream schools. The rising integration of students with chronic illness into the school setting requires educators to aptly accommodate students while the students pursue their academic journeys. This qualitative research study involves three case studies portraying students with a rare gastrointestinal chronic illness. In each of the three cases, the students and their parents were interviewed separately. The interviews focused on both the student’s and mother’s perceptions of the educational community’s response to the student’s needs. Implications rising from this study highlight how educators can work to adapt the school environment so that students with a chronic illness can better achieve their academic goals.