Persuasion in a Nursery School Setting

[mommy2noah]

Good morning everyone!

I have a 4 1/2 year old who is starting nursery school in 2 weeks. He will be there 3 days a week from 9 - 11:30. Noah's blood sugar is unpredictable mid morning so I feel it is 100% necessary that his blood sugar will be checked before the school's 10:30 AM snack time. I was wondering if any of the members of this forum were ever successful in persuading nursery school teachers to check their child's blood sugar and if so, what tactics did you use that you feel helped convince the teacher(s)?
Thank you.

Stacy, mom to
Noah, 4 1/2, diagnosed 2/05
Max, 7 1/2
Hannah, 22 months

[BrendaK]

Have you already asked the teachers and they just don't want to? If you already have and the nice and friendly approach doesn't work with them, I would tell them that he could pass out and die while in their care. Some people don't realize the seriousness of the situation and don't realize how life threatening diabetes is. (Of course, don't say that in front of your son!!)

If the school is receiving federal funding, they have to learn diabetes care.

Another thought -- can your son learn to check his own blood sugars? And they could help with interpreting the numbers? I know 4 1/2 is a little young, but some kids pick up on it so fast.

Were you planning on sending him to school with little or no staff training? The staff should not only be trained in checking blood sugars, but also on symptoms of highs, lows, glucogon, treating lows, and administering insulin if you will not be available to do that.

[wendyc]

I was in an unusual situation, where the school was willing to perform the task for me. They actually had a 504/emergency plan in place for diabetic students, and we just added in what we needed! I was floored. We also had a T2 teacher on hand, so she was already familiar with testing herself.
We did however, meet resistance from one teacher, she never said she was uncomfortable, but I sensed it right off. I said to her if you're not comfortable doing this, please let me know and I'll make other arrangements. This is how the other teacher started testing.
Abby was also already in the school, so that helped. We had a CDE come in and show several staff members EVERYTHING, from testing to glucagon. This was provided free of charge from the hospital. In addition, I offered to supply the school with disposable gloves and a sharps container (they felt better putting test strips in there).

I would just tell the school that this is imperative to your childs well being. Offer to have a CDE come in and train and provide them with gloves and anything else they might think they need. If they are a federally funded program, they can loose their funding if they are not willing to train/perform diabetes care.
Good luck!

[selketine]

The school has to test - I don't think whether it gets federal funding is an issue (until you get into K-12 schools).

Here is a document: http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/childq%26a.htm

Of course trying to find someone sympathetic to your needs is best.:cwds:

[Pammers]

Good luck, Stacy. I know Noah will love preschool and that you will work out all the kinks.

[georgia]

My 3 year old just started preschool, 2 days/week 9-12. We went in and met with the director and teachers and asked them to do a check on Amalia before snack. WE wrote up a few page info sheet with what diabetes is, signs of low, when to treat a low (#'s) emergency procedures. We had the teachers prick our fingers. On tues. My husband was there and watched the teacher do it, and helped.
Today the teacher did it. Unfortunetely it was a 400 reading. Yikes, I have no idea. Obviously water, no birthday treat (a child in their class is having their birthday, poor amalia!) But I am so glad we asked them to check her.
OUr teachers were very willing and helpful. They seemed glad we wrote it all out. I even sent in a box filled with emergency stuff.
My husband is getting them at 11 today.
I am a wreck, obviously with the high #.
Her morning insulin was fine, I think we carb counted correctly, maybe she is stressed. Her check was 1 hour and 45 minutes after her humalog, so she shouldn't be so high. Ugh.
WE were so worried about her going low with all the excitement and activity.. they always say it doesn't go as you expect. i'd be happy to send you the form i sent in.
OUr school is very helpful.
At our meeting with them, after all the diabetes talk was wrapping up, her teacher, said " So now I just want to know about your daugher, tell us what she is like."
I thought that was awesome!
goodluck.

[Jacob's Mommy]

Jacob is starting a private pre-school next week, so I wanted to get all my ducks in a row and went up there a couple of weeks ago to talk to them about testing Jacob and being willing to put in his Bolus' in his pump. I really thought they wouldn't do it since it is a small school that is privately funded.

But to my surprise, they were very happy to do it and even thanked me for me trusting them to do it and giving them the opportunity to learn. I walked away feeling so good. I trained them this week and wrote out step by step what to do and put it all in a nice notebook for them to keep for their records. The Director of his school even got trained so if one of his teachers is absent, she is there to take care of him. I am also going to set up my emergency bag with quick sugars in case he is low and bottles of water with individual packets of crystal lite for highs and of course safety gloves.

Of course I will be available at the drop of a hat if they need me, but for the first time since he was diag, I have a little relief that someone else knows how to take care of my son.

Mommytonoah, I would talk to his teacher and the director of his school about testing ASAP. Let them know the importance of checking the blood sugar of a diabetic.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[selketine]

Even is a daycare is private it has to comply with title III of ADA law unless it is a religious based school:

From the document I mentioned above:

Almost all child care providers, regardless of size or number of employees, must comply with title III of the ADA. Even small, home-based centers that may not have to follow some State laws are covered by title III.

The exception is child care centers that are actually run by religious entities such as churches, mosques, or synagogues. Activities controlled by religious organizations are not covered by title III.

Of course it is a tough situation if you find them unwilling to do care and find yourself needing to educate them on disability law.

[RobinKop]

I remember that feeling. Kim was already in a daycare setting when she was diagnosed. We obviously called the school to tell them we were in the hospital and why. Kept them updated daily while we were still in there and just prior to being discharged from the hospital I called daycare to explain what Kim would need now that she had diabetes. I explained everything they would need to do to take care of her diabetes.

I was scared to death to make that call. I didn't think they would do it. I thought I was asking for the moon and the stars. I thought I was going to need to quit my job to stay home with her.

Much to my surprise they jumped all over it. Their response was "Of course. We will learn and do what ever we need to do to keep Kim healthy." They have really gone above and beyond learning about what Kim needs and they have exceeded my expectations in every way.

I actually think they see it as a great opportunity for their center to show how great they are. I can almost hear them telling perspective parents touring the center that they even have a child with diabetes and most of the teachers are cross trainied and have taken turns doing finger pokes for her.

We did it in baby steps. First I taught them finger pokes and the glucagon. We set a range and if Kim is outside the range they call me and I decide if I need to go over there to make an adjustment.

I took the menu home and planed out exactally how much of everything she would eat at each meal. Then a few weeks later I met with the cook and we developed a master carb sheet for everything the center serves. So now the cook knows how many carbs Kim can have when and she measures it out for us. We bought her a digital scale so she can be more precise with her measurements. They call me when they have last minute substitutions or when other kids bring in treats.

And now we are talking about switching to lantus so that would require a lunch time shot. Again, I thought they would be uneasy about doing a shot. But again they surprised me and they said if we brought in an actual nurse to train them. Yes, they would do it! Yippie!

I consider ourselves very lucky and can tell from reading the boards that unfortunatly not everyone with D is as lucky with their child care providers as we are but you never know until you ask.

Good luck & I'll be thinking happy thoughts for you - let us know how it turns out!