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new member.. mum of diabetic son need advice please

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laidyburd6

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Hello everyone, I have come across this site while looking for information on hypers and decided to join, maybe I can get a bit of advice on what to do with an issue my son is having with school.
He was diagnosed in Jan 2007 aged 12. Since then we have had an up hill battle with his school who dont want to accept the changes such a diagnosis has made on my son physically and emotionally.Recently my son has begun going through his proper growth spurt and his blood sugars are all over the place, making him quite unpredictable. Has anyone else had bad experiences with schools and if so how did you deal with it? Thank you.
 
laidyburd6 said:
Hello everyone, I have come across this site while looking for information on hypers and decided to join, maybe I can get a bit of advice on what to do with an issue my son is having with school.
He was diagnosed in Jan 2007 aged 12. Since then we have had an up hill battle with his school who dont want to accept the changes such a diagnosis has made on my son physically and emotionally.Recently my son has begun going through his proper growth spurt and his blood sugars are all over the place, making him quite unpredictable. Has anyone else had bad experiences with schools and if so how did you deal with it? Thank you.
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Could you be a little more specific about what the school are doing or not doing? As a schoolteacher the only thing I'm required to be aware of for the T1 kids I teach is that if they are hypo obviously they obviously need to eat, where normally kids can't, also if they're hyper I might have to let them go to the toilet during lessons. PE teachers would have to be aware that they'd need to allow snacks to be eaten before, during or after exercise. What has happened that's causing these problems?
 
has the diabetic team been to the school - my expereince locally is that the diabetic nurse and the dietitian will visit the school and deal with school meals if required.
 
There have been so many things over the past year or so but the two most recent are, the thursday before half term he was late for his late due to him having a hypo, he was with his head of year treating the hypo and explained this to the teacher but was still given a detention after school for being late. Today his blood sugars were 32.4 needless to say he was restless, felt odd, and needed the toilet often. His teacher refused to allow him to go to the toilet, and gave him a detention for disturbing in class. He reported the incident to his head of year after the lesson, who called me at home and expressed his frustraion but assured me he reported the matter to the head of department and it would be dealt with. My son still had a detention after school during which the teacher questioned his really needing the toilet, said the blood sugars werent that bad and he knows all about diabetes and feels my son exaggerates his symptoms.
The diabetes nurse and I have been to the school several times, and I have taken written information about the condition, but I feel we are still banging our head on a brick wall as some teachers just dont get the whole condition and what goes with it, and dont want to know or understand.
 
Sorry i meant he was late for a lesson.
The thing also is that coming to terms with having to inject four times a day, having to monitor his blood sugars, the physical effects of hypos and hypers, my son seems to be particularly affected by changes in his blood sugars, running high makes him restless and unable to sit still, he gets aggressive too if they run high for a while, he has headaches, stomach ache, feels very tired etc. We have been told by the diabetic team that his blood sugars will change more often at the moment as he is going through his growth spurt, I dont feel the school are supportive at all with any of it. He just wants to be a 'normal' boy. It breaks my heart when he tells me he has no future now and that he feels so alone at school.
 
hi laidyburd6 does your sons school have to give you 24 hours noties of a after school detention if so you should go and pick him up at normal finshing time and see the teacher that gave him the detention telling them that this is disablaty dissgramination (sorry im a bad speller) and that he will not be doing any detention for been ill and that if it happens again that you will take it feather . if this teacher now all about diabetes like he/she says then he/she would know how much your son would need the loo and how bad he would be feeling
 
Hi there,

Yes we have been through the mill with my sons school too, although that is a primary school. There is a post on here somewhere about it as they decided to 'exclude' him for a week. They have been a bit better this last couple of weeks but that is because Matt is in his honeymoon period and has been a lot more stable. That said his sugars have been creeping up over the last week so when he has to go back on insulin full time (he just has a bit of lantus at the mo) I think school will not be able to cope again. I won't go on about school as I could write a book on how rubbish they have been yet how brilliant they managed to be the week they needed all the kids to turn up for the exams that reflects their league table position (funny that eh?).

Hope you get it sorted, I too would be pulling my son out of any detentions he got for the side effects of diabetes! I would write to the school governors if you get no joy, the schools are terrified of them.

Kind regards

Pud x
 
Hi,

I agree with Pud, there's no way I would allow my daughters to be given a detention for being ill, esp if related to their diabetes. Schools have a duty to come to terms with his diabetes and make allowances - this includes allowing drinking water, going to the loo, and having glucose/snacks in class time if necessary. I think you have a good case for taking this matter further, with the head, the governors or even the LEA. Good luck.
Sue
 
32.4?!

Is he on basal-bolus? Because I'm 24, I work from home, and I find it hard enough to get decent results on a regular basis. Your son must be finding it nigh impossible. I suggest talking to his consultant about going onto a more manageable regime, like the old Mixtard injection in the morning, and a fast acting injection at tea-time. It's not as "perfect" as Basal-bolus, but during his school life it'll give better results overall and probably make his diabetes more manageable.

As for the school, I'd have his GP or hospital consultant write a letter detailing the nature of his condition and why he must be given consideration. Then photocopy it. Give him a copy for each teacher has has, and send one to the head.

And don't be intimidated by his care team. As my consultant once told me: [paraphrased] "We don't KNOW very much, we make educated guesses".

*sighs* Honestly, post-code lottery is an understatement when it comes to diabetic care in this country.
 
Hi Laidyburd6,
Some good advice has been given already, particularly about making sure the school's governors are aware of the situation. Another line you might want to consider is to write to the Chief Education Officer at your Local Authority's Education Department. The teacher who appears to be victimising your son is an employee of the LEA and the LEA is legally responsible for his actions. A letter, copied to the school head, needs to point out your son's disability, outline the treatment your son has received and state that this is in breach of section 15B of the Disability Discrimination Act (2005). Ask them what steps they intend to take to ensure that this harrassment of your son ceases immediately and is not repeated in the future.

If you need the information here is a link to the full DDA (2005) legislation
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2005/uk ... 1#pb1-l1g1
 
Hi my daughter was diagnosed 4 months ( gosh doesn't time fly when your having so much fun.) School was difficult at first not because of school but LEA what so many bloody risk assesments. LEA would have prefered for her to stay at home and have a hour a day home tution. She is back in full time, but it was difficult to get them to let her do PE and swimming lessons. I go in every lunchtime to do injections. We are having a battle with injections having to be done in the staff toilet, out of site. We even had to fight to get a chair for her to sit on.

I am finding you only get listened to if you shout about it. In despereation I have joined my local health board diabetes advisory group and refernce group in Wales. They feed informtion direct to Local health board who deal with the issues. They are arranging for schools in my area to have diabetes training even if they don't currently have a diabetic child so that hopefully it can avoid some of the problems we have occured.

Good Luck. I would recommend a diabetes weekend for your son. My daughter went last week and has come back with a really positive attidue about diabetes, and the way she is going to manage it.

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF) have info for schools also Diabetes UK publish a leaflet for schools which you can order via there telephone line.

Good Luck




Try this link http://www.jdrf.org/index.cfm?page_id=103439
 
LEA what so many bloody risk assesments. LEA would have prefered for her to stay at home and have a hour a day home tution. She is back in full time, but it was difficult to get them to let her do PE and swimming lessons. I go in every lunchtime to do injections. We are having a battle with injections having to be done in the staff toilet, out of site. We even had to fight to get a chair for her to sit on.
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What the hell?
 
I thought it was bad enough having to do Matthew's lunchtime BM in the reading corner, which is situated in the main corridor in the entrance to the school. So far he hasn't needed a lunchtime injection otherwise we would be doing that there too!

I would object to injecting him in the toilets, staff or otherwise!

Kind regards

Pud x
 
When we agreed to do them in the toilets it was because we had been battling for several weeks to get her back in school and see was falling behind. Plus I was still in shock with diagnosis. The nurse said we should take it as a victory. I wish I had refused but at the time I was just relieved to have her back in school.
 
donnamum said:
When we agreed to do them in the toilets it was because we had been battling for several weeks to get her back in school and see was falling behind. Plus I was still in shock with diagnosis. The nurse said we should take it as a victory. I wish I had refused but at the time I was just relieved to have her back in school.
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I'd speak to a lawyer about the fact they wanted to exclude her at all. I've never heard of that before, and I would bet all the money in my pockets that it's illegal. Haul them over the coals - if not for your own daughter now she's back, then for all the other kids who will come after her.

Edit: Come to think of it, write to Diabetes UK about this.

And then fire the same info off to every tabloid you can get in contact with. Those toilet-paper-printers might be useful for once, as they like nothing better than a chance to cause a commotion.
 
My son Steven, tests and injects in the school dining hall, in the class or anywhere else he needs to.

I don't see why your son shouldn't too.
 
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