The signs and symptoms happen when the person is having an asthma episode. Responses may include coughing, being short of breath, wheezing or noisy breathing, tightness or pain in the chest, gasping, trouble talking or walking because they have trouble breathing. The main symptoms of asthma are coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath and tightness in the chest. They do not happen all at once. Some symptoms may not be seen by others, but the person with the asthma episode would feel them.
Some children have very mild asthma.
They are only bothered every now and then, sometimes only once a week or only a few times a year. Other children have very serious asthma. They can be bothered a lot or even most of the time unless they take medicine. A few children with asthma are bothered by their asthma much of the time even when they take their medicine. But most children with asthma can play and go to school just like children without asthma if they, their family, and a doctor work together and take care of their asthma.