Every Child Matters - Children with Diabetes

sure my mum knew what was happening and when and could sure I had extrafood, insulin or whatever was needed to cope with the change in routine.Sometimes things happened fairly last minute, like the day when the PTA sentin ice lollies for us but the school just rang my mum and she sorted somethingout. Yum. The cook and her staff know I have diabetes and the cook evenmakes me extra bread specially to go with my lunch because that is what Ineed.I went on a day trip with my school last year. Jo came along and my mumgave instructions for what to do if lunch was delayed or something else wentwrong. My friend who is much older than me went on a residential trip andour DSN spoke to all the staff who were going on the trip to explain theimportance of regular meal times and what to do if they were changed. Shetold them what to do to cope with increased activity levels and illness and allsorts of eventualities.My mum says my DSN is going to speak to my new teacher before the nextschool year starts. My mum thinks it’s great that they are all so keen to learnand be involved in my care. She says it can be daunting for a teacher knowingthey will have a child with diabetes in their class and she says my class teacherwas terrified the first time I told her I was feeling hypo in class. But she didn’ttell me that and neither she nor anyone else at school ever stopped me takingpart just like everyone else. Usually it just takes a bit of forethought andplanning. Some children will need much more help than me, especially if theyare younger or have no hypo awareness but if your school is willing, it makessuch a difference to your school life. And mum doesn’t have to go around in atizz all the time worrying about me when I’m at school. Some parents sheknows had to give up work to be able to give the lunchtime injection becausethe school wouldn’t help. Some parents have to go on every school trip ortheir child is excluded. Things like that should not happen.Diabetes is with me every day and for life and sometimes I hate it, but I’m gladthat school life doesn’t constantly remind me of that and make me hate it evenmore. I hope and wish all my friends with diabetes get the same care at schoolas I do.♦I think 'wonderful' might be a strong word but Isobel's school is not bad. It'sa private school so I'm not sure how helpful that is for this discussion but asfar as good practice goes they allow Isobel to test in class whenever she needsto and always at lunchtime. If she feels low, she and the teacher have suppliesof sugar and if it is before lunch, she is also sent to lunch early with a buddy incase of faintness on the way. The teacher keeps her afternoon snack on herdesk and has an alarm clock go off to remind her and Isobel to eat the snack asno one else in the class has anything to eat in the afternoon. She doesn't injectat lunchtime owing to the consultant's reluctance to let her but, if and whenshe does, she will go to the school nurses' office to do the injection and therewill always be either a nurse or a first aider to supervise. She also has a writtencare plan which is checked at least annually.Kate (Mum to Isobel, aged 9,♦My son Daniel was diagnosed in February 2005 and is currently onNovorapid and Lantus. He started school full time in January 2007. Our55