Healthy Habits: Going to School with Diabetes

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Written by Kirsten Schull, mother of 6 children with type I diabetes.

If your child is newly diagnosed, he’s probably felt crummy for a few months, had a whirlwind health crisis culminating in a hospital stay, and begun a new life of scrutiny, needles, and inconvenience. He is dealing with tremendous changes and emotional needs that might feel overwhelming. What you do to help ease your child back into school can really make a tremendous difference.

If your child has been diabetic for a while, you can make this year a better year for him by improving areas of school diabetes management.

First, meet with the school nurse to discuss:

·       How the school nurse can educate and advocate for your child’s doctor-approved school diabetes management plan (http://www.jdrf.org/index.cfm?page_id=108007_

·       How to disseminate information about diabetes and its care to all the staff who will interact with and oversee your child: this includes teachers, recess aids, the librarian, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians, etc. (http://ndep.nih.gov/publications/PublicationDetail.aspx?PubId=97&redirect=true#main)

·       Continuing education and training for school staff and student population about diabetes

Next, meet with the child’s teacher(s), before your child goes back to school, to discuss:

·       Creating a testing and diabetes care station in the classroom

·       Liberal, discreet bathroom and drinking privileges

·       Snacks for diabetic lows, as well as managing the ever-present snacks in the school environment

·       Meals and carbohydrate counting

·       How to manage lows and highs

·       Communication between teacher and parent – needs to be easy and immediate to manage low and high BG, alerting parents when supplies are getting low

·       Keeping good track of BG with logs and testing

·       Minimizing the social impact of diabetes on your child

·       Never, never letting the hypoglycemic child go anywhere on a ‘carbohydrate search’ – equip and permit the child to carry things like Airheads or other candies, or send others to get the snack

·       Medical waste disposal                                  

For kids up to about 6^th grade, make a classroom presentation about diabetes and how it affects your child.  The most common question I’ve had during class presentations are: “Does it hurt when he tests or gets a shot?”  “How did your child get diabetes?”  and “Is it contagious?”  

Diabetes can make your child feel isolated and lonely. The class presentation is a time to:

·       Teach the children the signs of low blood sugar

·       Explain in very basic terms what Type I diabetes is

·       Explain why your child has to snack sometimes to bring up their blood sugar

·       Get the kids on board to make your child’s diabetes care less of a spectacle

·       Ease your child back into the normalcy and routine of classroom life

·       Teach the children that the supplies and snacks for your child must not be played with

·       Bring a snack for the entire class—show how your child just needs to take an extra step or two (testing and injecting/bolusing) to stay healthy, then let your child pass out the snack to the entire class

·       Emphasize your child’s strengths and talents, and reassure the children he’s still normal and socially fine

SUPPLIES YOUR CHILD NEEDS AT SCHOOL

·       Meter, lancets, test strips, syringes, insulin, pump supplies (teach kids to dispose properly of medical waste)

·       Logs or charts– make them specific to your child’s classroom schedule

·       Pictographs of lows and highs

·       Snacks for lows (juice boxes, sugary non-fat candies, granola bars, etc.)

·       Water bottles, sugar-free drinks and snack for when the child has high BG

·       Label everything.    If it is a prescription, leave the pharmacy label on it.

·       ID bracelet or necklace/dog tags

·       A watch with alarm to remind him or her to test

Prepare ‘diabetes first-aid kits’ for the classrooms, library, office, bus, cafeteria and playground.  Include carbohydrates, like juice bags or non-fat high-sugar candies, for low BG when your child is conscious but low, and fast-acting BG like gel frosting for more emergent situations.  Include your child’s identification information, directions to care for the child in either situation, your contact numbers, the child’s teacher(s), and instructions on what to do if the child loses consciousness.

In all your interactions with the school, remember that you set the tone, positive or negative.  If you create hostility or resentment, you will walk away from it, but your child will deal with the fall-out every day.  If you create positive, reassuring relationships, your child will reap the rewards every day.

With careful planning and preparation, going to school can be less worrisome for parents and children with type 1 diabetes.  A great resource, from a collaboration between Disney and Lilly Diabetes, is a family friendly type 1 website  – www.family.com/type1 – where families can find inspiration, education and practical advice about type 1 diabetes. The collaboration also provides a resourceful book, Coco Goes Back to School, which is available through local Endocrinologists’ offices nationwide.  This book focuses on a fun-loving monkey with type 1 diabetes, who is returning to school after her type 1 diagnosis and goes through how she deals with a variety of situations.