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If you have a child with T1D (or at some point you were a child with T1D), are you satisfied with the T1D care the child receives at school from school staff?
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I was diagnosed in 1964 so I was pretty much on my own. Teachers were helpful
āI was very satisfied with the care I receivedā
How can this possibly compare with today? Those good olā days were in the 1950ās where frontal lobotomies and thalidomide were common medical practices.
Insulin other than regular and NPH? Didnāt have any. Glucose testing? Didnāt have any. Correlation between carbs and insulin? Unknown. CGMās? Whatās that? Come on folks, things have improved a tad. š
Dear Ahh, or Mr. Life:
I love your perspective, and can relate to it. Keep on “Truckin”
Mr. Life …. I started school in the early 50’s, diabetes was an unknown word & one room rural schools had NO capabilities of administering health care. The older students had to maintain the wood stove . Many things have certainly changed over my lifetime.
EXACTLY what I said with a lot more words! : )
I had 2 children with T!d in school and I was totally satisfied with their care. And myself, I was diagnosed at 56 with Type 1 LADA.
Completely dissatisfied. My child is far better able to manage their T1D that the school staff, yet, they insist on being in charge and doing it their way, not the way it needs to be done.
Tere, that is unfortunate and scary!
Bwahaha! I was a child in the 70s, and we understood very little about how to manage the disease, beyond urine tests and single daily injections. So I guess I was probably satisfied at the time, but could not say we (my mother and I) were satisfied when we compare it to today’s standard of care.
I was diagnosed in 1884. The care I received at school was non existent.
1984*
I got t1d at 12 years oƱd in 1963. I was in the 6 th grade. We didnt have a school nurse. My mom took me to the principals office at the beginning and told him I had diabetes, to give me sugar if I acted funny. That was it. I treated myself. Ate when i felt low. No biggie. Same with the four hugh schools I went to ( Iran, Switzerland, washington DC and Woodside CA). In a lot of ways, life with T1d was easier inthose days. Of course, Iām 71 now, and my memory has dimmed somewhat. No big complications though.
The only person that somewhat understood my diabetes was my athletic trainer. It may have been a good thing that I was the only student that had diabetes in my school at the time due to the lack of education, knowledge, and awareness surrounding the disease.
What I got in the 70s and 80s was sympathy from staff, not any medical help. It was all up to me, as there was no school nurse. So I was satisfied, and fortunately did not have any major incidents or severe lows.
I was Dxād at 17 snd a senior in HS I hid it from the school nurse as long as possible telling very few. I had a low in feb and stumbled into the nurse for juice.
We had a come Jesus meeting. After. They treated me well after that. However they made me surrender the insulin and syringes I had in my locker.
Turns out the take a dim view of lose syringes in a HS. Go figure ?
I was a teen with TID but as I recall the school was never notified about it by my parents.
I was a child in the ā60ās with T1D. My teachers were basically concerned with keeping me from having insulin reactions.
Dxed in ’64 as a 15 yo. Other than family no one knew anything and weren’t required to or showed any interest.
I was 14 at diagnosis. I received no care from the school nurse in regards to my T1D. Guess I was a teenager and not a child?
I was 14 at the time of diagnosis (March 6, 1963.) I donāt believe we even had a school nurse and was on my own. My mama made sure all my teachers knew I had diabetes, but not a one of them ever said a word to me about it. Thank God I never needed their help!
The 1960s were much like the 1950s described by Ah Life. I was lucky that I never needed medical help during those years, and I was also lucky that the school had a hand’s off approach to my self-care.
I am the parent of a now adult child with diabetes. He attended school with diabetes from pre-school through high school 2003-2017. I was very, very disappointed and upset sometimes in the care he received in public school. It was the same nurse K-12. She felt he should not have sugar, and eat low carb meals, which was also the attitude of his teachers. The worst thing that happened was not getting insulin at lunch for a period of time in 1st grade, after I discovered this the nurse always treated me like a problem-parent. In second grade I was told there was not enough staff to give him insulin at school so I went to his school everyday to give him insulin that whole school year. Other smaller things were teachers giving all the students candy rewards but not letting him have any. The one he remembers most and will still talk about to this day is not being allowed to have pie when his 7th grade algebra class had āpi dayā. I truly regret not insisting on a 504 plan, the nurse told me he didnāt need one and would not assist, and I let it go. He should have had one and it would have followed him to college. There was one incident Iām aware of in college where he got low during a test and the professor would not let him get into his bag for his meter and supplies. After that we got him some kind of disability plan. My advice to all is to always put those official plans and protections in place regardless of the resistance you may have against you.
You are a smart mom indeed! I hope other parents listen and benefit from your experience. Sometime it takes the parent(s) of a T1D kid to advocate on behalf of T1D kids to teach the teachers and school personal on what to do for a T1D child – even to get the school staff onboard with 504 plans.
It was a long time ago (over 40 years ago) – so ignorance was more commonplace at that time – School was totally uninvolved, and they seemed to prefer staying that way.
Hah! In the 1960s and early 70s I was a child and adolescent with T1D. In the days I went to grammar and high school I was pretty much on my own to care for my T1D. In grade school there was no such thing as a school nurse – each year the teacher was given brief instructions that I be allowed to eat a snack of an apple or graham crackers at 10 o’clock recess and if I was having an insulin reaction I could eat sugar cubes kept in my purse or have a tablespoon of maple syrup kept in the cloak room closet.
In high school there was a school nurse who I met with each September who told me to come to her office if I was having an insulin reaction so she could give me a can of warm canned OJ to drink. Yuck! And the problem was that her office was in a far corner of the HS on the 3rd floor far away from the gym or playing fields or the music & arts building where I was most likely to have an insulin reaction. However, as an active teen I ate pretty much anything I wanted that everybody else was eating so I rarely had severe lows like I did when I was a younger kid.
As a teenager I treated any lows with sugar cubes, regular soda pop like Orange Crush, Coke or Pepsi if it was nearby, or super sweet BD glucose tabs that as a diabetes nerd I always carried in my purse or book bag. We did not have the option of juice packs back then.
An addendum: I did have an ally on my side in HS. One of the girl’s gym teachers had been a summer camp counselor at the overnight camp for kids with diabetes that I attended from 1963 to 1968. Her father had T1 diabetes since his childhood and she kept a stash of cold OJ in a little fridge and mini-packets of cookies in her office. She and the other female gym teacher always had my back and would ask before and after gym classes if I was alright and did I need a snack.
I was Dx’ed in 1956. School was hard, I do remember some pretty lunch time lows and stumbling to the cafeteria. It was quite different for my son, Dx’ed in 1988. By then meters existed. For my granddaughter Dx’ed in 1999, we have Dexcom G6 with follow.
I was in the 3rd grade when dx in 1955. My mother notified the school, met with the school nurse and was informed that they wouldn’t accept any responsibility for my care. The major concern was hypoglycemia, so my mom gave my teacher a box of graham crackers with instructions to give me one if I was “acting strange”. From that point on I was excluded from all class birthday parties and field trips. After having a low in 7th grade gym class I was no longer allowed to participate. That was the quality of “care” I received.
Oh, Janis, you’re summary of school care breaks my heart. š I was diagnosed in college, so was lucky to avoid these types of elementary school exclusions. I’ve seen your other inspiring posts and always appreciate them. Like many others on this site, sounds like you’ve done an amazing job not letting such challenges hold you back and coming out all the stronger for it.
I hope the other posts are a indication that things have improved in schools.
I was a child growing up with T1D and my mother was very dissatisfied with school support…..
I had a child with T1D and was very satisfied with school support.
Things were certainly different in the “Good ‘ole days”!! My mother visited the teacher (we really only had 1 FULL-TIME teacher, possibly a few volunteers for home ec, etc).
Diagnosed 1971 at 5 years old.
I answered “other” because I received no care from any school employees, so there was nothing to be satisfied or dissatisfied with.
I don’t know if my Mom ever mentioned my diabetes to the school administrators and teachers… kinda think she didn’t, but I could be wrong.
I’ve been diabetic almost 50 years. As a child, my mother would visit my classroom teachers to tell them a little of what to expect / what to do should I experience hypoglycemia, etc. ONLY ONCE did a teacher fail me – but, she at least got my brother from another room to help me! by 5th grade, I didn’t really need “help”. This was all before pumps, CGMs, etc, but I still rarely had issues and certainly NO EMERGENCIES!!
I was diagnosed in 1974, so there honestly was no care in school for diabetics. My parents taught me to deal with it on my own and they would always tell my teachers that I had T1D.
I was diagnosed in 1970, 1st grade. There was no school nurse. My mother met with my teachers at the beginning of each school year. I remember my 2nd grade teacher freaking out about the whole thing; moved my desk next to hers where she could keep her evil eye on me. Found out later that she was always calling my mother about one perceived problem or another – especially when I would go out at recess and act like a normal kid by running around full tilt with other kids who were up for participating in a rousing version of tag/wrestling. Basically, hunter vs. prey where the prey was chased down until tackled to the ground. Then the prey had to fight their way free or die trying. What? That’s not normal kid behavior? An early version of mixed martial arts! Ah, the good old days when recess was a daily death match.
Anyway, this teacher would call my Mom thinking there was something wrong with me when I came in after lunch recess breathing hard, red-faced and sweaty. Come on woman – kicking butt is sweaty work! š Eventually my mother got a job there as a lunch lady. Lol.
From 4th to 6th grade a stash of candy was kept in my homeroom teacher’s file cabinet and if I felt like I was low (“Having a reaction.”), I would leave whatever class I was in, raid the file cabinet, and go eat a candy bar in the bathroom. My best friend got to go with me in case I keeled over. Nah, we didn’t abuse this system at all ā¦ during Math ā¦ a couple times a week ā¦
As of 7th grade – junior high/middle school – I was on my own. Just carried a candy bar with me or bought something from a vending machine when needed.
Makes me shake my head in both astonishment and pride. Us old-school, Diabetes Lifers were some tough little badasses!
Under 18 for me was 45 years ago, so things are drastically different in today’s school system. I was very fortunate to have a great principal and teacher in grade school that closely worked with my mother to provide me care when needed. Junior High and High School were less intense in their care, but still very, very caring and supportive.
I was 4th grade and 9 years old in 1960. Every fall, mom would come in and explain diabetes to my class until I was old enough and brave enough to talk myself. I was never shy about it. I was kind of “cool” in elementary because no one else was allowed snacks. Didn’t make up for the awfulness, but teachers were kind and kept life savers for me. I had a necklace that said “I am a Diabetic.” In 4th grade my desk was near the teacher’s closet and one day she opened it and I saw a medallion on her coat zipper that said: epis-co’-pay-lian. I went home all excited and told my family that my teacher had a disease TOO! She was an Episcopalian! We laughed for years.
I was diagnosed when I was 12 years old. I had to take care of myself at the school. I am from Venezuela. My mother used to talk with teachers about my diabetes and if I have low I have to eat something or they need to give me sugar. I didnĀ“t have lunch at school.