Your Child with Type 1 Diabetes is Starting School

Leave a comment

 Type 1 Diabetics First School Year

The first year of school is approaching for your child. Going to school is such a joyous milestone for you and your child. And for the diabetic family it can also become very overwhelming for the parents. As a parent you have been in control over all the blood sugars, injections, food intake, and what to do during exercise (recess). Now it is time to start school, kindergarten is right around the corner and what do you need to do? To start you need to talk to your diabetic educator and gather information and orders from the doctor.

Getting Prepared

First you want orders from the endocrinologist. Those orders will come need to go to the school nurse about 2 weeks before school starts. Then you will meet the school nurse. At that time she will review the orders and talk to you about your child. This helps the nurse make a care plan (this will be the same for what you do for your child at home-our book can help keep all of this information sorted easily to discuss with the nurse) for your diabetic. The next meeting will be with the teachers and nurse. Before this meeting you will want to make individual care packages for each teacher. Things to have in this package is a description of your childs hypoglycemia and rescue medications like juice or smartees.

This is to ensure when your child has a low blood sugar during class then the teacher can treat in the class room if needed. Also your child should have some kind of sugar in his or her pocket and know what to do with it. Sometimes walking to the nurse is not appropriate especially with an extreme low blood sugar. Also specify that your child is never to walk to the school nurse unattended with a low or high blood sugar. The child needs accompaniment by another adult, not another student.

Next  is important to know what your services your school[provides. Some schools have a full-time nurses or a health aid directed by a nurse.  Some aids are able to give shots and some are not able to give shots (this will depend on the state and city in which you live). Most schools will have a diabetic plan in place at the beginning of each school year to help guide your childs care. If you child will at school over the lunch hour you will need to decide if your type 1 diabetic will eat sack lunch or school lunch. If you decide on the school lunch the school can provide the carbohydrate count for the meals served. With sack lunches you should send the carbohydrate count with lunch. Writing on a plastic sandwich bag or disposable container (I know it is not green to use disposable but very easy for carb counting) for each object in the lunch. Assigning carbohydrate counts on each food piece allows your child some flexibility with what he or she will eat.

504 Plans

Finally, there is the 504 plan. A 504 plan is a legal plan put in place for diabetics (or other medical reasons). As a parent of a type 1 diabetic it is your right to use a 504 plan for the treatment of you diabetic child during tests, standardized tests, during class period so they are not unfairly treated when it comes to school work and missing class time. 504 plans are not always necessary during the first few years of elementary school. As your child progresses through school this may become more important with standardized testing. The school sets up the 504 plan and you will meet with the school consoler, nurse, and any teachers you deem important.  During this meeting you will decide what incluison criteria and all party to the meeting will agree upon the academic plan.

All of this feels like more than enough to remember for the first year of school. Once you do this it gets easier (Diabetics will go through the same process each year).  Most schools have had a type 1 diabetic before and will navigate you through this process. If you hare having issues with the school enlist your diabetic educator or endocrinologist for help. They will either help you directly or get the right person to help you with the school. Once all of the medical details straightened out, then as a parent you can enjoy sending your child to kindergarten for the first and last time. Those milestones are precious.

Brand New Type 1 Diabetic Parent

Leave a comment

I first want to tell you to BREATHE!

Okay now we can talk. There is so much information that is getting told to you and you feel like you are drowning. Breathe again! You will become the next expert on your child and type 1 diabetes. But how do you get there and when will that happen?  Take small steps to get there. You will learn all of the information and will be that expert. Parents I have talked too say they really felt very comfortable around a year. Not that you won’t understand what to do until then; however, type 1 diabetes becomes second nature around then.

Not everyone is the same. Some parents are type A organized and have every paper ever given to us by the doctor to reference back too. And some of the parents have what is exactly needed and nothing more. Each has it merits. But what we do have in common is we keep all this stuff in one spot to find and reference. Usually all of the information is from a diabetic educator. Diabetic education is wonderful. They take you step by step through all things diabetes. So how could you break that up a little bit more for a not so structured person. Start with a list of how to focus on aspects of diabetic care. (And yes I am the type A personality, so planning is how I function. I recognize that planning is not everyone’s strength. And it is not a downfall). Start with a few weeks as a new diabetic parent and just get to know your child’s type 1 diabetes. As a parent of a newly diagnosed diabetic I learned my child; for example I learned that his legs were hungry when he was low. While you learn your child also spend time with a basic diabetic book to understand high blood sugars, low blood sugars. insulin, and carbohydrate counting. Then I would start to dive into each topic more in-depth.

A good example would be carbohydrate counting. To do this start to learn more about how to measure and weigh carbohydrates. The package carbohydrate counting is sometimes correct and sometimes way off. So measure with a good old-fashioned scale and use that carbohydrate counting book at diagnoses. If you have that book mark the pages you use most.If you don’t go buy one. If your preschooler will only eat macaroni and cheese then mark all of the pages. (We keep one of these books in a carry bag, in a kitchen draw, at grandmas house, in all the cars. One year we found older versions at the bookstore for a dollar a piece. You guessed it we bought every single one of them). Now that the pages are marked you will find it easier to start counting carbohydrates. Live with the carbohydrate counting and then move on to the next topic of your choice.

Over the next few weeks learn in-depth a certain aspect of the new diagnosis. With breaking it down into smaller steps it becomes easier.taking it step by step allows you to master your understanding of your child’s diabetes. Also remember you are still caring daily for your diabetic child.  The first year is the hardest because type 1 diabetes is not second nature. It will come it just takes time. But the thing that is most important to emphasize is a parent can become caught up in trying to do all of the diabetic stuff and burn out easily. So BREATHE often and frequently!

It is important to stay on top of it but you as a parent needs to know when you need a break even for a few hours. You can better help you child with their diabetes if you are not burnt out from care giving. to do this use all the resources you can, books, family, spouse, to make learning and caring easier for you and your family. Diabetes did not just

life-with-diabetes

impact your child, it has changed the whole family unit.

One place to start with a new diagnosis is with our book. It is for babysitters, but as authors we broke the book down in very basic topics to help people learn. The intended people are the sitters, but with a new diagnosed child the parent can also be that person to learn. And the plus side is that you will have all your kiddos information in one area. Diabetes is hard on the whole family and the primary parent tends to be the caregiver. You as a parent will learn it all and hopefully do so with as little stress as possible.