Hi,
I now have 2 children with diabetes in my Reception class . One is full time and one is part time at the moment. They both need their blood sugar testing during the day which means at least once if not twice during the morning I lose my TA to do this and we then need to make sure that they eat the snacks they have been given. The snack is dependent on what their blood sugar levels are and for one child we are given specific snacks for sepcific times and the other child it is sent in daily by the parents. Even when they have stable blood sugars we need to keep a close eye on them both as they tend to vary dramatically throughout the day and then we need to repeat blood testing and give extra snacks.

The blood sugar testing is only ever done by my TA or another first aider but this constant monitoring and checking that they are ok is taking a lot of my class TA time and therefore I am wondering whether to write IEP's for them both.
We are keeping a record of how much time this is taking each day as I feel it is having a big impact on the activities and learning in the classroom. Particularly if the TA or I am involved in an activity that needs adult support, when she goes out to do blood sugar testing the activity has to stop for a while.
I firmly believe we can manage the situation but only if we can be provided with additional support for these 2 children. It's very tricky to keep a constant eye on 2 children when you have 28 others in the class and only 1 TA and 1 teacher.

Any ideas, suggestions for ways to support them or ideas for the IEP would be much appreciated.

Nicky Sussex

I would ask whether an IEP is the best way to get the children the support they need unless their diabetes is causing a learning difficulty. We are supporting a child in our setting with signficant and ongoing medical needs and we have a healthcare plan/risk management document which shows how we are managing their care. Although I am in pre-school which may make a difference, of course.

Good luck - it sounds as if you've got a lot on your plate. I'm sure the families are extremely grateful for your support.

Maz

Hi Nicky, you might find this document quite useful and it has links to other useful documents you may or may not have read yet.

I would agree with Maz, what you are probably in need of is a good care plan, your school nurse should be able to support this. Depending on how your LA allocates its funds, it is possible to get funds to support medical needs that are not educational ones. Your SENCo should know how to go about this. But realistically it is unlikely to give you an additional adult in your classroom but may be a person that can be called upon to support blood testing etc.

I am sure we will have other members who have had this experience who will come along and share their experiences.

We have had 2 children with diabetes in Foundation, one who is now in year 2 and a current one.
Testing shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes and I always do it in class, often whilst doing an activity - can I ask how long they have had diabetes, how old they are and how long they have been with you? Do you administer insulin as well? I presume their levels are pretty unstable from what you have said are they unstable at home as well?
Sorry lots of questions! Ours don't have an IEP only a care plan, if the children are fairly new to you and the people doing the testing are new to it aswell it does take a while until you can do it in your sleep as it were, as you get used to the children you will start to notice when they are low and monitoring them so closely won't be so much of an issue.
Hope this helps a bit

I have only ever taught 1 diabetic child and his testing checking etc. was undertaken very willingly by the office staff- once they had received the training. They where absolutely brilliant at coming to get him at the right time etc.etc and built his care into part of their daily routine. My own son has severe asthma and if ever he has needed extra inhaler medication, the school have allocated this duty to the secretary who has been fantastic at getting him at the appropriate time, recording doses etc. This certainly put my mind at rest that he wouldn't have to remember and if ever his class teacher was absent, I knew the medication would always be done.
Maybe this is the route to go down? I agree with everyone else, you need a care plan and this will state how often things will need to be done etc.etc.

Hi,
Thanks for your responses.
The full time child has been in school since Sept this year and has had diabetes for a year and a half, my TA has to check his blood sugar at lunch, give insulin and if we are concerned about him at any other time then she takes him out to do his blood test. The head has said under no circumstances must his blood test be done in the classroom but it must be in the first aid room which is in another part of the school.
The other child has only been diagnosed for 3 months and started school this week. His parents hoped to win an appeal to get him into another school but they haven't and so he has started with us. We have been asked as a school to test his blood sugar levels part way through the morning and then at other times if we are worried about him.
We had a meeting with the diabetic nurse before the first child started but she said it was the schools responsibility to write a care plan not hers. The head teacher said it would be written at the end of Sept but still not done and have been told very clearly to leave it for her to write.

It just feels very difficult at the moment as I had finally persuaded the head that I needed full time ta support this year due to EYFS and now it's disappearing again with the additional needs of these children. It might have helped if we had been told about the new child but we knew nothing about him until he arrived this week and my Ta was taken from the classroom for a meeting lasting well over half an hour.

Sorry just feel under a lot of pressure with this.
Nicky Sussex

I'm not a bit surprised - would your school support staff such as the secretary be able to help in the way mozart described?

Maz

hi,
sadly not because they are not first aid trained, only first aiders are the Ta's and an extra midday perosn who may be about to leave which will put it back onto my TA's shoulders.
Thanks for your support and understanding
Nicky Sussex

Hi Nicky,

my daughter has a Healthcare Plan in place at her High school, which is written by the school nurse from the local Health Centre. She's been great and has even given me advice on getting a Care Plan put in place for a child in my care. Might be worth a call?

Good Luck,

Nona

Hi Nikki
Our county Diabetic team did all the care plans and training, did your Diabetic nurse do the training?
Is there any reason why they have to have their blood tested in the first aid room or is it just the head's opinion - and if one of them showed signs of a hypo would they need to walk to the first aid room before being tested? Administering insulin I could understand but the actual testing I can't.
We now have 7 members of staff who have been trained (including Yr1, Yr2 teachers and the Head) is there anyone else in school who would be able to do the training? Could you explain that as they move up the school, other people are going to need to be able to do it and if your TA is ill what happens then?
For the one who is tested mid-morning could you arrange your day so that you read a story to the whole class (or something similar) at this time or do you have a fruit and milk time that could be at the same time as he is tested?
Don't know what else to suggest really but hopefully it will get easier for you.