Diabetic Kids in Private School situations?

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Permalink Reply by Diabetic_Iz_Me on February 19, 2009 at 8:41pm

Jessica-

I don't know too much about private schools. I'm shocked they don't have a nurse on staff. Sorry I can't be much help.

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Permalink Reply by Jessica Park on February 20, 2009 at 7:44am

Thanks for your response. I believe in NY private schools, they're not required by law to have a nurse, and it's usually money issues.

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Permalink Reply by Toddsmom on April 2, 2009 at 12:11pm

Hi:
I'm interested on what you get as response too.

I have a son age 7 that was diagnosed with diabetes at age 3.
My daughter goes to private school and like you our school has not a nurse...is just not the norm here on private schools.
So for preschool I actually went with him and worked on his classroom as a teacher's aid...but this did not go well.
We are home schooling now...but he does miss his friends :(

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Permalink Reply by Jessica Park on April 2, 2009 at 7:22pm

Hello, there~
thanks for your response. I'm sorry to hear it didn't work out being a teacher's aid. My older daughter's school has said that I'd be welcome to come into the classroom at any time and do what I need to for Elisabeth, but I think it would be hard to do any errands, etc. knowing that I have to be back by certain times and never knowing if they're going to call me for an emergency. We're in NYC, so if they call me and I'm in the middle of Target or somewhere else...it's a challenge to drop everything, back to the car and travel back in time, etc.
I have also considered home school for my daughter as well and I'm still considering that. My daughter really wants to go to school like her big sister.
Let's keep in touch...blessings~

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Permalink Reply by Toddsmom on April 3, 2009 at 12:12pm

Dear Jessica:

I'm learning a lot from the answers of others to this question. :)
What played a roll with us for the Preschool teacher aid that didn't work out was mostly the fact that the teacher didn't really like me there. She was comfortable managing the mid size class and I feel she saw me as an intruder. I end up helping on other classrooms instead on my son's class only to find that he has been crying because he didn't feel well and the teacher instead of calling me she punished him by sitting him at the corner.
First time that happen and after several times of having explain things about lows and heights to the teacher, I was forgiving and just trusted she will be kinder next time but she was not and after the second time I felt it was too much to deal.

Homeschooling was not something I relish on doing, but the circumstances have make my husband and I consider and now Todd is in first grade and doing second grade work. He is bright and picks everything up quick. Our schooling consist of two hours a day of work and many fun times at the park, library aquarium, etc... He is happy but he still lack more playtime with other children. I have an older daughter and she is a great sister. We also go to church and he goes to Sunday school so is not like he has 0 companionship of same age pears but never the less we think the homeschooling will just go until he is old enough to administer his own shots or use his pump (he is not on one yet) Maybe by the time he goes to 6th grade... well'' see.
In the meantime my older daughter is really wanting to be home schooled too...she sees his brother advancing fast at 2 hours a day of work and feels jealous of our outings.

I wish you the best on your quest. :)
Lena

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Permalink Reply by Jessica Park on April 9, 2009 at 8:00pm

Dear Lena,
Thanks for your response. I'm sorry to hear about the challenges you had with Todd's teacher. That's really tough. It's hard for me not to be very protective of Elisabeth. Her well-being really depends on me being there and monitoring the way she's acting, what she's eating, drinking, how much insulin, etc.

I'm glad to hear that homeschooling is going well with Todd. Elisabeth hasn't been feeling well recently and it's made me think it might be better to wait another year and try to do something similar to what you're doing with some schooling plus lots of fun times to learn at. She might do better with another year at home and hopefully be better able to communicate how she's feeling by the time she's 5.

I don't know, I haven't decided yet...I still have a few months to decide. Our daughters also have Sunday school, so they also get other forms of playtime plus they have a few close friends their age that we play with frequently.


God bless you all & take care,
Jessica

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Permalink Reply by Glen on April 2, 2009 at 1:24pm

I went to public school all my life, but I don't remember ever really seeing the nurse, so it wouldn't have mattered to me. I only lived 2 blocks away though and my mom was a stay at home mom, so she was available if the school needed to get a hold of her.

Before every school year, we met with the teacher and went over what to do in certain cases. My mom always made sure there was glucose tabs, cans of juice etc available in the classroom. I remember having some issues with lows, but I was pretty much always able to handle it on my own.

This was of course before everyone was afraid of getting sued, so I don't know how a private school like you mentioned would feel in this case. Or, if you yourself feel comfortable with it. I just never really felt a school nurse was all the helpful or important in my case.

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Permalink Reply by Jessica Park on April 2, 2009 at 7:18pm

Hi, Glen, Thanks for your response. I'm assuming you were on shots at the time and do you mind if I ask how old you were when you were diagnosed? That's wonderful that you were able to manage without a nurse and any health emergencies aside from the lows.

I'm also a stay at home mom, but I would certainly feel more comfortable if I were only down the street from the school, I could pop in for blood checks, boluses, etc. But, knowing that I'm about 10 minutes away by car makes me nervous especially since I saw my daughter seize once from a quickly falling BG and I never want to repeat that again! That happened so quickly and when I think about being a 10 min. car ride away, I have Mom Panic! :)

Thanks for your input. Take care~

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Permalink Reply by Jessica Rasmus on April 2, 2009 at 8:16pm

I had a similar problem when i was in middle school. i was going to a private catholic school when i was diagnosed at age 11. They had no regular school nurse. I am not sure how my parents worked everything out but before lunch etc. i just went to the office to check my blood sugar but i was not allowed to carry my machine with me (weapon... uhm yeah whatever) and they kept insulin for me and i would administer it to myself, they would write it down then call one of my parents to confirm everything was okay. This was almost 10 years ago, so things have probably changed: more worries about getting sued and liability, but i did go to a very small school where everyone knew each other kind of thing.... my parents had the same problem as you with not being able to just drop everything and come to school so i was very much on my own: we i lived and i went to school in virginia, but they both work in DC as surgeons

Good luck though with everything, i'm sure there is something that can be done.

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Permalink Reply by Jessica Park on April 9, 2009 at 8:03pm

Hi, Jessica,
Thanks for your response...I'm getting a lot of good ideas on how to manage things should I decide to put her in this next year.

Take care! Jessica

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Permalink Reply by Leah D. Rogers on April 3, 2009 at 8:47am

Hi Jessica, first let me say that your girl are adorable! I love the picture of your daughter at the beach with her little pump on her hip. My eight year old daughters go to a private school (2nd grade) and one is diabetic and on the pump. Jillian was diagnosed in December and was on the pump 45 days later. It is different because she is older than your little cutie but I can tell you how it works for us. The school allows Jillian to do whatever we feel is necessary to care for her diabetes. She tests her bg's in the classroom and has a cell phone with her and she will call me between 3 to 5 times a day with her numbers. If she has P.E. then she will call more often. After I know what her numbers are, we talk about if she wants a snack or not, how many carbs she will be eating, if she will be going to recess or not, etc. As you know, there are so many variables in the whole picture. She will do a correction if need be or just enter her food carbs when she will be eating. She always has glucose tabs with her (sometimes I think that she plays extra hard so that she can have some of them LOL). She has her own drawer in the class to hold her extra juices, strips, etc. In the office we have her glucagon, and extra insulin. We had someone speak to her class about special things that pertain to her condition such as signs and symptoms of her going low and how to handle it. Our school also does not have a nurse which has not been a problem for us because she is so self sufficient. I absolutely understand that it is very different since your daughter is younger but if you can get through the first year or so of school then it will not be long before she will be doing it on her own as easily as Jillian is. In my opinion, I could not imagine Jillian going to a large public school with a nurse vs. our small private school without a nurse. I would feel like she would get lost in the crowd. Also, I think that parents paying tuition have more say in the care of their kids. The most important thing that I have not touched on is that my girls are in an extremely loving environment where the staff can comfort, hug, love, and pray with the kids. My girls know that they matter and that they are surrounded by loving people. It makes a difference. I myself attended public schools and prior to my girls attending private school, I felt that public was just fine. I hated it when other people would preach about how private was so much better and how we HAD to send our girls to private, etc. Now I get it. It is not the same and now I am the one preaching. If one has the means to send their kids to private vs. public (nurse or not) I would do private in a heart beat especially with a child who has special needs. Good luck, and your daughters are beautiful! Leah

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Permalink Reply by Jessica Park on April 9, 2009 at 8:04pm

Leah, thank you so much for your response. I'm going to respond more fully when it's not so late, but I wanted to say hello and thank you for all the great ideas.
Your girls are beautiful as well.
Take care ~ Jessica

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