My daughter (entering second grade) has decided she wants to take the bus this year, which will be a new thing for her. How much training do you typically do with the bus driver, and how is it usually conducted? It will be probably a 15 minute ride for her at the most so I don't want to bombard the driver with an overload of information, but I do want them to be aware of the situation. I'm planning on emailing the school's principal about it, but I figured I would check in with the experts first!
The most I ever asked of a bus driver was 1. to keep an emergency juice box on the bus and 2. never to give her grief for drinking a juice or eating something on the bus. Most were happy to oblige. Never had a problem but I also never asked them to engage in any meaningful way or to be trained in any care. Good luck!
This is us as well. Emma (5th Grade) has always ridden the bus. Being newly diagnosed I didn't want to change her routine. She carries tons with her but I've asked him to carry and OK just incase she forgets her bag at school. And i let him know she has snacks and is allowed to eat them whenever. He typically takes a couple of days to get the emergency contact papers to us. But I met him morning 1 with a sheet i wrote up myself and said - Emma had some changes this summer (he knows all the kids) and explained it to him. let him know she has her snacks, all the people at school who know, that he now had my # and 1 neighbors # and I'd be there as often as I could at the bus stop. (esp days I've watched and she's been wacky). He was a bit nervous but he was cool. He really appreciated the info sheet up front.
I usually give the bus driver a note with a tiny picture of DS and say he has diabetes and my cell phone number. He has glucose tabs in his backpack. You probably won't have to worry in the morning since she will have just had breakfast, right? DS would go to the nurse at the end of the day for a quick check right before he boarded the bus and only a few times she had to give him a juice and she would call me and let me know. This worked well for us, hope you can figure something out. Other than that, the bus driver had no training, just the knowledge that he did have diabetes. Good luck!
This is about how we are. If she can test and treat a low on her own, I wouldn't bother too much, just make sure the driver is aware and won't give her grief For eating on the bus. Testing before getting on the bus in the afternoon is a good idea, especially if she doesn't feel lows.
Our bus schedules changed for this year and I Haven't gotten the new schedule, so I will have to wait and see what time they get off the bus. The D kids always check right before getting on the bus and they typically don't have their meters with them on the ride home, so if they are low, they have a snack before leaving for home (usually not an issue since he typically ran a bit high this past year, but that may depend on lunch this year, too). The bus drivers will know that he is a D and he is allowed to have a snack or a juice box without questions. We have never had an issue with this in the almost 2 years since diagnosis. The good thing is that one of his two brothers will usually be on the bus with him this year.
My daughter is in 4th grade and riding the bus for the first time this year. I let the school nurse handle telling the driver, so I'm honestly not sure what she told the drive. In general, I am not worried about the morning, she has just eaten breakfast and is generally having somewhat of a spike at that time. She is supposed to be going to the office and checking just prior to getting on the bus; however I will admit we are almost three weeks into school and I haven't asked if she has been doing that recently. My daughter generally self manages so I'm counting on her to be doing that during bus time as well. She has told me that she has corrected on the bus because another girl said something to her about eating. My daughter just said it was ok because of her diabetes.
