School exclusions

[elliottrice]

HELP!!!!!!

Hi all, my name is Elliott, and I am the very proud parent of a 4 year old boy who has Type 1 Diabetes.

My son started school a couple of weeks ago - mornings 1 week, afternoons the 2nd, but today finally(to my wife's chagrin) started full time.

Anyway, approximately 2pm, after having a blood glucose reading of 25, treated by 2 units of Novorapid at 12.15 pm, he told his teacher that he was feeling unwell, and on testing was found to have a hypo of 2.5.

The teachers treated the hypo with a bit of lucozade and a packet of crisps - followed by - a phone call to my wife to tell her to come and collect him.

Apparently (there are currently 3 kids Type 1 in his school), as soon as they are found to have a hypo , the parents are then immediately phoned and told to collect their child from school, and thus, they are in effect excluded from school until the following day.

This would happen if it was 9 o clock or 10 to three.

Surely this is discrimination under the Disability Discrimination Act?

Help !!! What should I do?

This would happen

 

[gaynor]

You need to make an appointment to talk to the school elliott. This is not right. My son is 4 the same and just started school 3 weeks ago. I have to say they have been fantastic. There is no need for them to send him home. After dealing with his hypo he should be perfectly ok to continue his day. I agree that this is discrimination and should not be allowed to continue. Maybe your diabetic nurse could go in and speak to the school for you? What happens if he has a hypo everyday, are they going to send him home everytime? He will end up missing loads of school. Contact you local council that runs the school and speak to them. He should not be made to feel different. It is bad enough dealing with this condition without being made to feel different. You really do need to speak to the school. Good luck!

 

[elliottrice]

You need to make an appointment to talk to the school elliott. This is not right. My son is 4 the same and just started school 3 weeks ago. I have to say they have been fantastic. There is no need for them to send him home. After dealing with his hypo he should be perfectly ok to continue his day. I agree that this is discrimination and should not be allowed to continue. Maybe your diabetic nurse could go in and speak to the school for you? What happens if he has a hypo everyday, are they going to send him home everytime? He will end up missing loads of school. Contact you local council that runs the school and speak to them. He should not be made to feel different. It is bad enough dealing with this condition without being made to feel different. You really do need to speak to the school. Good luck!

My wife has spoken to the other parents in the school with Type 1 diabetes, and this is exactly what happens!!.

One girl went through a bad run and was sent home (practically) every day for four weeks.

It isn't good enough. I have put in a call to the Diabetic nurses who hopefully have come across this situation before and may know how best to approach the school.

 

[DiabeticSkater]

This is totally wrong. It makes me sick that these freeloading ""teachers" cannot deal with any human condition. "those that can't, teach"

this site is useful
http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/P ... fault.aspx

 

[Katharine]

It does seem to be a great way of getting out of school !

He won't be doing this deliberately now, but wait till he is older. There is no medical need for life not to carry on as normal once the hypo has been corrected.

I was surprised that his blood sugar came down so much from 25 with only two units of novorapid.

I wonder if he could have had residual sugar on this finger ?

My son is a 16 year old type one. When he eats anything outside the house eg in a restuarant I always ask him to wash and dry his hands before leaving so that if he feels low in the car we can just test and know that it is going to be accurate. At home it is of course much easier to wash his hands before blood testing.

 

[DiabeticSkater]

although hypos can seriously whack the stuffing out of you for a good 24 hours and can lead to further hypo.

Katherine, Isnt your son self controlled at his age?

 

[Thirsty]

The teachers are probably terrified by the prospect of being sued should something go wrong. I can't say I blame them, really.

 

[Katharine]

Hi Diabeticskater,

He is indeed and if he gets the odd hypo at school just treats it and gets on with it. I should say however that he has never had a severe hypo.

As for hand washing, he is pretty methodical about doing this before testing at home but at home I don't ask him to wash his hands after meals.

I am always washing my hands but then again I'm doing the cleaning, food prep and dishwasher stacking after meals and he isn't.

 

[hanadr]

I was a teacher for narly 40 years and I can tell you that most of us would just deal with a hypo and then get on with the day's work. If that's not happening, it's because someone is dictating a policy. Policies are necessary so that those teachers who know nothing about the condition, can do the "right thin. Schools have asthma policies too. they probabaly don't include, what the first aider and I once did.
We collected oxygen from the chemistry lab in a wine bag and made a mask from a paper cup We kept a child breathing until the ambulance came. Her parents later told us she wouldn't have survived without that. But BOTH of us understood Asthma, so could see the problem and a potential solution.
There must be hundreds of young teachers out there, not much more than kids themselves, whose only knowledge of diabetes is a tv programme where someone passed out and there was an uproar, whilst people rushed about like headless chickens looking for Insulin

 

[Katharine]

What a brainy person to think of the oxygen solution !

What was the (empty) wine box doing in the school eh?

Sarah, you are right. I'm never going to get my two boys married off at this rate.

 

[IanD]

My son had asthma - we sent notes when necessary to have him not do outside games when he was unwell. The games teacher insisted, & he became ill. Then he was on antibiotics, & school policy was not to have pupils on antibiotics at school. This happened more than once.

And we then got phone calls warning us about his non-attendance. I don't use bad language, but I did complain about the teacher. No more trouble.

 

[DiabeticSkater]

I remember having hypos at school and then being excluded from trips and outing which were days afterwards. It really alters your perception of people and society.

Oh yes, I test from my forearm which pretty much takes away the problem of any carb residue on the fingers. And it doesnt hurt one bit. Can't feel a thing. Finger pricks are nasty and its impossible to avoid one any of the 3 nerve ending in our fingers. The nerve in the arm are spead out more so you can't feel a thing.