According to social media a lot of children are heading back to school this week. It got me to thinking about how hard it is to transition from summer to school for anyone living with diabetes. I decided to have three nights of back to school posts, the first dealing with elementary students, tomorrows post dealing with high school and Wednesdays post dealing with college. Obviously I'm not an expert, I will be posting information from other websites that is a credible source. I will also be posting my own personal advice and what I think will work best. I hope that this information helps a lot of people and as always if anyone has any questions I'm here to help.
For elementary school children I believe the transition back to school as a diabetic is one of the toughest. A child with diabetes is going from being active a good deal of the day to having to sit for anywhere from two to six hours a day. That is a very extreme change, obviously insulin rates will have to be tweaked that first month of school. In my opinion this is where having a program setup with the teacher, and school nurse comes in very handy. Obviously the more a child tests the better understanding we have of what exactly is going on diabetes wise. The key is to include the child in the conversation, I know some children don't want to be "different" and have to leave class to go test a lot during the school day. Getting the child's feelings is very important, as is setting up what the child does when he or she is low during the school day. What can a child keep in their desk to help fix a low blood sugar. Again I don't know what the law says but talking with the school nurse and administrators will help tremendously.
I was able to find this amazing article entitled "Care of Children With Diabetes in the School and Day Care Setting" You can visit this page to read the article. I believe that page does a great job of explaining the laws and what is expected of each person involved in the child's school day. My last bit of advice is a lot easier said (or typed) then done. As a parent I believe you have to believe in everyone involved, your child, the teacher, the nurse, and friends of your child. Everyone involved is a professional in what they do, they care about your child and want what is best for them. I have not met a teacher or school administrator that could not handle a medical situation, they are amazing people and want what is best for each and every student.
For elementary school children I believe the transition back to school as a diabetic is one of the toughest. A child with diabetes is going from being active a good deal of the day to having to sit for anywhere from two to six hours a day. That is a very extreme change, obviously insulin rates will have to be tweaked that first month of school. In my opinion this is where having a program setup with the teacher, and school nurse comes in very handy. Obviously the more a child tests the better understanding we have of what exactly is going on diabetes wise. The key is to include the child in the conversation, I know some children don't want to be "different" and have to leave class to go test a lot during the school day. Getting the child's feelings is very important, as is setting up what the child does when he or she is low during the school day. What can a child keep in their desk to help fix a low blood sugar. Again I don't know what the law says but talking with the school nurse and administrators will help tremendously.
I was able to find this amazing article entitled "Care of Children With Diabetes in the School and Day Care Setting" You can visit this page to read the article. I believe that page does a great job of explaining the laws and what is expected of each person involved in the child's school day. My last bit of advice is a lot easier said (or typed) then done. As a parent I believe you have to believe in everyone involved, your child, the teacher, the nurse, and friends of your child. Everyone involved is a professional in what they do, they care about your child and want what is best for them. I have not met a teacher or school administrator that could not handle a medical situation, they are amazing people and want what is best for each and every student.
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