Middle school is a real transition for kids, and having diabetes can present a whole host of new challenges.
Based on your experience as a parent or as a former middle-school student, what would you recommend for anyone who has a child with diabetes in middle school?
Please go to the Joslin Facebook page and post your ideas.
Or post your ideas in the “comments” section of today’s blog.
A while back we were looking through our favorite diabetes forums, and we found a lot of discussion about the kinds of issues that parents should address when their kids with diabetes transition to middle school.
Some of the things that parents were concerned about were …
Time – having to change class rooms for each class adds stress (not a good thing for diabetes control), plus it can lead kids to prioritize getting to class over performing diabetes tasks (like checking BG).
Other kids/new kids – in elementary school there was a core group of classmates to educate about diabetes and how your child lives with diabetes. In middle school, different classes can have different students and the number of kids who need to know about diabetes increases significantly.
More teachers – changing classrooms for different subjects means more teachers to educate.
Substitute teachers – if your child has more than a half-dozen teachers each week, the number of possible substitute teachers grows accordingly.
Health education – several parents felt they needed to deal with what one described as the “mantra of ‘obesity and diabetes,’” both in the curriculum and in presentations by other children.
What would you suggest for these concerns? What other issues should be addressed?
Please go to the Joslin Facebook page and post your ideas.
Or post your ideas in the “comments” section of today’s blog.
Thanks.
My son has dealt with diabetes since kindergarten, he is a sophmore in high school now. The best thing we did for him in middle school, was to promote “supported independence”. By this, I mean that he carried his meter with him and checked his blood sugars when ever he felt that he needed to check, and then met with the school nurse before or after lunch to discuss either what he was going to do, or what he did do, to be sure they both agreed. The nurse was available to him for consult, and to check in with him periodically during the day, but he was able to begin to try to manage himself with the safety net of the school nurse right there if needed.
I remember wanting to make sure everyone in the buiding knew that my son had diabetes. I tried to instill the thought that there was nothing to be ashamed of about his disease but to be safe and the more people thst knew the safer he was. It might just be the cafeteria lady or the janitor who will find them in the bathroom or in the halls passed out from a low. It is so importamt to educate the public that Type 1 diabetes is so different then Type 2. It will keep our children safe.
My daughter has diabetes, she keeps her meter and things with her, but she still feels more comfortable going to the nurse. She is in 6th grade and has only had diabetes for 4 months.
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