My daughter started first grade today and is with a new group of students who don't know what/why she checks her blood sugar multiple times per day. Can someone give me some tips on how to present to first graders, books or ideas? I'm hoping to do it this week, so ordering a book off amazon won't arrive on time. Thanks in advance for any tips. Mary Beth
DD was in the second grade and we tested in front in the class, explaining why. I showed them this http://www.childrenwithdiabetes.com/download/HypoHyperNovo.pdf to explain the symptoms and asked them to help us keep her safe by watching out for the symptoms. They were great.
We did a show n tell of our 6 year old doing a test and explained why what and what ifs. Right after Dx his teacher read them a couple books and explained that it is not something that the kids could catch from him and that he can still do everything but just needs to have maybe some extra snack or juice at different times. I do suggest sending a letter home with classmates. That is one thing I regret as we then got many questions out of the blue in town bc some parents didn't believe their kids and others had their own ideas of why he missed school and such. Gotta love small towns
Try this book (they also have one on pumping). I printed it out and the teachers themselves gave a presentation to the class. http://www.grandmasandy.com/books2.html
I would first start off by asking your daughter if she wants you to talk to the class - I made that mistake ... once.
I second swellman's suggestion that you make sure your dd is ok with sharing in class. If she is, then I would keep the explanation very simple. I would also consider discussing that diabetes is not contagious. The kids in DD's class, just after her Dx were very understanding when we talked about how she would need help sometimes if she was feeling "yucky". There was one sweet girl who DD had gone to school with since kindergarten....she said that she was going to look out for Olivia because Olivia has always looked out for her. That of course made me cry in front of 30 3rd graders! :cwds: good luck!
