I need a little help from all my readers out there. In the next month or 2, those of us with school age kids will be sending them back to school. I'm working on a little newsletter for our JDRF monthly chapter chatter email and I want to focus on back to school ideas for Type 1 kids. Things that make life with Type 1 and school a little easier. Tricks of the trade. We have veterans out there and newbies, bring on your ideas! Syd just finished kindergarten this year so we haven't dealt with any full day issues and Type 1. Plus, many minds working together are better than a few! So, think on it and then comment or email me with your thoughts! Thanks!
10 months ago
8 comments:
Love this idea of sharing....I'll send you my ideas only if you promise to post everyone's ideas on your blog :) Hee Hee. I'll thnk about it and email you my relatively newbie ideas.
I just know the obvious...
-update care plan and 504 before school starts.
-set up a meeting with teacher(s), nurse ect... so that everyone is on the same page right away.
-Be sure to order a new Glucagon (that will not expire during the year)to leave at school so that you will not be left without one.
You could write a list of all the things a d kid would need for school... snacks for class and office, juice, glucose tabs or gel, meter, lancet, extra strips, med id bracelet, glucagon a watch with alarm as a reminder to check bg etc...
you could share a copy of the hypo/hyper symtoms photo page or different websites for resourses/help that with sample d kid 504's and stuff.
My new favorite things are these small desk organizers. They are plastic and have three drawers. In the top drawer we have extra lancets and instructions on how to use a monitor and extra pump batteries. In the second drawer we have low supplies...yogos, frosting, whatever will bring them up. In the bottom drawer their blood sugar monitor with extra strips. We also give each teacher a binder with information...clearly tabbed. The new thing I did last year was give each teacher a "cheat sheet." If this kid's blood sugar is 60-80 feed him this. If it is 81-99 feed him this and so on. That way if one of my boys can't get hold of me, they will always know what to do. We also give the teachers apple juices to keep in the cupboards.
The first thing that pops into my head is about celiac and classroom parties. (I suppose you could make regular cupcakes and do this with D as well -- that way you'd know how many carbs your child is being covered for when you can't be there to estimate the cupcake yourself.)
Make GF cupcakes and frost/decorate with sprinkles as usual. (Be sure that each cupcake is about the same amount of carbs.)
Freeze in a single layer overnight.
After completely frozen, fill a freezer bag with cupcakes and write carb amount on the front.
Store in a freezer at school (we keep them in the Health Office).
When the class is having a party (or an unexpected treat comes up), simply remove one at a time, and allow to defrost on the counter (about 10 - 15 minutes).
By freezing before storing, it protects the frosting from smearing off. That way, you can count on the same number of carbs everytime!
For Joe...we have a log that goes to school with him...with his morning BG...then I list everything packed for snack and lunch with the carb counts for the School Nurse. There are blank spaces on it for her to enter in BGs throughout the day and the amounts of insulin administered. The form is on my blog on the side bar.
Yes, the 504 needs to be addressed.
ALSO, a PLAN in case of a LOCKDOWN (should be included in the 504 Plan).
I too do a cheat sheet with Joe's photo on it (for subs) and then hand them out to the Art Teacher, Music Teacher, Principal, etc...etc... (the information sheet is on the sidebar of my blog).
It is important that the children's diabetes stuff IS NOT locked up in the health office...the must have access to supplies at all times (this happened to us for a few months, until I got that changed).
If I think of anything else I'll come back!
xoxo
I love the idea of a cheat sheet for lows! I am going to use that for my regular babysitters ;-).
You've already gotten some really good ideas. I want to reiterate the idea of making sure that the teacher leaves a note about their diabetic child in their sub plans. As a teacher, I know that substitutes can be very overwhelmed and that the better prepared they are for this the better off your child will be!
The only other thing I can think of that wasn't mentioned is that each year I go into Janelle's classroom to talk to the kids about diabetes. I think this helps her feel more comfortable because the kids aren't staring or constantly asking her questions.
We do a cheat sheet too. We also have laminated cheat sheet tags, the same size as ID tags, that hang off of all of Jack's teachers' lanyards. That way D info is "right there" all the time. We have a letter for subs.
During the first week of school, we send a letter to parents of his classmates, introducing ourselves and Jack, so that they receive the information about D that we want them to receive, so that they're informed, so that they can explain D to their kids if it comes up at home, so that they know to send in carb counts on shared snacks whenever possible, etc.
I hope you'll do a post with all of the tips you've compiled.
Sadly we live in an age of school "lock downs". Last year my daughters school had both hard and soft lock downs. I made sure that each of her teachers (classroom, music, PE, art, etc.) had some Smarties or juice in their rooms. If she gets stuck in one of those areas, she wouldn't be able to get to her meter (at the nurse's office) but could treat herself if she felt low.
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