School and Diabetes

School and diabetes with your child need understanding, A child with type 1 diabetes is insulin-dependent, and even those children that have type 2 diabetes need to have this known by everyone. You will want to tell the school so that your child can get the support they need during the day from both teachers and administration staff, especially the on-staff nurse.

With school and diabetes,you need to sit down with the teacher of your child first of all. Explain the medical situation which might take you at least 30 minutes or an hour to do-very very important. You need to bring along literature that explains diabetes, especially literature that is aimed for teachers and staff so that they might have the knowledge they need to deal with situations.

Some teachers think that they have to give insulin injections. Of course that is not their responsibility to do so, and this is up to the nurse in the clinic at the school if it needs to be observed.

Teachers need to understand a little bit about the blood sugar monitoring system that your child is using. Having a knowledge about the readings will help the teachers to understand low, normal, and high ranges.

Snacking time is very important for children with school and diabetes. Your child's teacher should also understand the behavior patterns that might go with hypoglycemia so that it can be treated correctly. Your child may need reminding to eat snacks. Send a schedule along to the teacher for snack times so they can keep track of it on their desks.

When packing your child's lunch, be sure to include some extra foods to help low blood sugars. Packing a balanced lunch is important in the first place to balance out blood sugar control with insulin injections.

Just because your child is diabetic does not mean that they cannot participate in activities as the other children do. Be sure to understand your rights about this subject. It is perfectly allowable for your child to test their blood sugars when needed during activity times, use the bathroom along with snacking when needed. These rights are mandated by law in the United States. If your child's needs are not being clearly understood, then you need to talk to the teacher to correct the situation, and even the principal if you need to. A well rounded education on diabetes will help everyone meet your child's needs.

Sometimes it helps to have your child do a presentation on their diabetes to the class as a whole.You can help them share their knowledge. But if your child feels stigmatized by their diabetes, you should as a parent, go along with their rights to keep it quiet too.