Essential ingredients for an ideal education program for children with asthma and their families.

H ealth education is a critical "therapeutic strategy" in asthma management.' Various teaching tools and educational programs play distinct roles in education. Table 1 outlines some educational tools on asthma. A program is a package of services or information intended to produce particular results (Table 2). Specific and clear goals, combined with appropriate methods for reaching the goals, are essential components of a program. An instructional guide or curriculum that describes the educational process and includes educational tools must be available to the educators. Selection of educational resources should be based on their quality. A high-quality educational resource meets the following criteria: (1) contains accurate, current, and appropriate information; (2) adopts an appropriate learning philosophical point of view; (3) is interesting and attractive to children; (4) is free of cultural, ethnic, age, race, disability, and sexual biases; (5) is realistic in cost; (6) is easy to obtain; and (7) demonstrates instructional merit.2 A program must also meet the educational goals or the expected achievements of the program. Research evaluations of the resource should be conducted to demonstrate that the desired goals can be achieved by using the program. Some, but not all, programs have been evaluated. For example, use of "Airpower" allowed for improvement in self-management skills of parents and children.3 The American Lung Association's "Superstuff" increased confidence about asthma, reduced asthma problems, and reduced missed school days.4 A positive feature of a program includes identifying attainable goals such as playing soccer or not missing school. A program should provide for the child to rehearse skills required for asthma selfmanagement. The child should be able to demonstrate techniques such as the use of medication