I have an 8 year daughter who is able to take her own bs levels at school with adult supervision. Although now the principle of the school is suggesting we get her a type of smart watch, phone etc so she can set alarms when to take her levels and not depend on the adult to come see her. They take the bs levels in class and about 15 min b4 eating and leaving school. I personally find it a little young to give an 8 year that responsibility. She is still a child even though she has diabetes . How is it in other schools?
I’ve seen a kid have a one to one support to manage their diabetes. Your daughter sounds very astute and independent, I taught second grade for 5 years so I’m a bit familiar (type one is what caused me to resign). I agree this is too young for self management. Is there anyone who oversees this ? I’m in Maine , May I ask what state you’re in?
We bought both of our kids iPhones the weekend after our son was diagnosed in case of emergency (he was 11 at the time). It’s been instrumental since because he’s on a Dexcom G5/G6 CGM for most of that time.
That said, it really depends on how your daughter is feeling about her process, whether she’s using a CGM, and other factors. It’s not your family’s responsibility to provide technology to support her needs, it’s the school’s responsibility to support her needs while she’s there. However, if you and your daughter are ready to take the next steps with technology, all of them can be helpful in improving her glucose control, and potentially reduce overall class disruption.
I think it’s best to start with having a conversation with your daughter and get her thoughts on it all. What is she comfortable with? How much more responsibility is she ready to take on? Etc.
Once you get that done, consider what you’re prepared for financially, since these very convenient devices typically come with rather inconvenient one-time and monthly costs.
after re reading your post a few times, I have come to understand that they are NOT asking her to test herself, but to have her go to the adult for the testing, instead of having the adult come to her.
A simple watch with alarms could do the trick.
working in a school, I can see why they are asking for her to go find the adult instead of the adult coming to her. it is time constraining for the adult to be on top of it, however, that being said, my concern would be that when it is time for her bs to be checked, the adult might not have kept track of time and not be available for her to be supervised. What will happen then?
Having an adult come to her, forces the school to be on top of it, being their responsibility instead of your child’s.
IF it was MY child (with my child’s personality) I would say no way. its the responsibility of the school, whether it be the nurse, her teacher or another adult within the building to be on top of her well-being.
But you have to ask yourself. Can your daughter be responsible for it?
My daughter has support at school, but it happened that there quite a few absences one day and they forgot to assign someone to come monitor her and I it was taken later and there was a little bit of chaos. I just don’t want to put extra pressure on her . Yesterday her teacher brought her an old phone and put the 3 timers on it. Overall it went well, but I know it stressed her a little because her levels were high all 3 times. We will see how it goes. But for sure I will insist that there will always be adult present with her . Thanks for the feedback.
Crystal we are in Montreal , Canada.
oh! where in Montreal?
I used to live in CDN and Rosemont. Miss it so much, might be moving back this summer (in NJ now), cant wait (though I am not looking forward to the winter weather - but love snowstorms there compared to here! here they wait until it melts and no one has winter tires, or knows how to drive in the snow, so much fun!!!
Give her maybe a week and see how she is doing.
Can her teacher be the adult supervisor?
In St. Leonard. Yes we are better equipped for winter but still have people who don’t know how to drive . She has 3 different teachers, and I wouldn’t want to interrupt the teacher while teaching . So far it’s been ok, it was ever since that incident. It’s a learning lesson for them to be more vigilant.
My daughter is 12 years old and in the (6th grade/ jr. High) began to start going to the RN for BS checks, because as she switches classes she passes the nurses station. In elementary school the RN always went to her classroom for checks (although she had electronic devices to help her through the day) it made sense for our family to have it that way. Most importantly for us, we did not want her to be “sent to the nurse during a low” it was clear the nurse must go to her. also we felt our child needed to be in the classroom as much as possible because her academic growth and development was important as well (plus that is a lot of responsibility). I personally would re-quest a time frame- meaning how long is your child out of the classroom for a BS check? If it’s 3x a day and each BS check is 15 mins long because she has to “leave the classroom” for care… that is 45 mins each day your child is missing of class time.
I highly recommend the Dexcom G6 if your insurance will pay for it. My son is 4, we bought him an iPhone for the purpose it sinks to the phone so my husband and I can also see his BG from our phones as long as his phone is within a decent distance to him. He’s in Pre school full time 7 am to 4 pm. His teachers keep an eye on his phone too/his Dexcom app to monitor his BG. My son has his Dexcom on his stomach usually and his Omnipod insulin pump on his arm. However, to answer your question, she is a child and she needs adult supervision for her safety. In the event her level was very low or very high and she was symptomatic you’d want the adult to be involved. They should come to her or have a buddy system where she goes to the RN or teacher assigned to monitor them with a buddy or friend. Hope that helps and good luck
@ChaseType1 I agree - Dexcom will helps everyone involved - I love it - tho it can be frustrating to hear the alarms all the time. @Sabbie - I believe according to Dept of Ed policy it is the school’s responsibility - while its a great suggestion for you and your daughter, it is ultimately their responsibility to make sure accommodations are made so that she can receive her education. Ps there’s no way I could’ve handled that much responsibility at 8 years old.
My daughter is 7 and in the 2nd grade. She has a little case she brings with her every day with her juice boxes and carb snacks for emergency purposes. Her school provides a healthy breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack though. We did the whole… Packing lunches thing for a while but my daughter felt out of place and wanted to eat “normal” at school like the other kids. I let her know all the time that she’s just like everyone else but has Diabetes. Also, that everyone has something that they struggle with. She checks her sugar with me right before a.m. drop off. The nurse visits her in class before sugar checks at lunch, and before extended day though. (She also does bg checks in between during the day if she feels it’s necessary.) She was diagnosed at 11 months old and is on a Medtronic pump with a sensor so she pretty much has everything down pact. I just recently bought her an i-phone. I hated having to do it at her age but the school agreed that it would be easier and be less distracting for the class. The school nurse goes to see her for all the blood sugar checks but my daughter does everything on her own. When it comes to dosing, she lets me know her bg, carbs, and what the pump dose calls for. If she’s going outside, I’ll tell her to drop the bolus amount a bit. If no outside, I tell her just to go ahead and dose the pumps recommended amount. She either texts or calls me though for any lows and dosing. I have a parent account through i-cloud and all of the internet access and no apps are allowed on the i-phone. It is for Diabetes purposes only and we have our rules in place. Anything to keep routine and your daughter moving forward toward independence is a good thing. Once the school nurse feels more comfortable, I’m sure she’ll stop visiting her for the sugar checks. I talk to mine all the time about the complications Diabetes can cause and how important routine is. I suggest meeting with her teacher to find out what works best for y’all AND the class/teachers schedule. My daughters teacher knows that no matter what, Diabetes and her health come first. We will try to minimize the interruptions but if a bg check and text/call to me is needed, that’s what will happen. Happy health to your little one and best of luck!
My daughter is 8 years old and she has had diabetes for a little over two years now. The doctor wrote her specific orders for the nurse as to when she must have her blood checked. My daughter will go to the nurses office before snack and before lunch and she will check her blood and put her carbs in her pump. My daughter currently has the Dexom so she has an iPhone that I am able to monitor her blood, and the school has an ipad set up so the nurse will receive alerts if her blood gets low or high so that she will be able to assist her. If you don’t already I would make sure the school has doctors orders as to when she needs her blood checked. On gym days she has her blood checked before gym and if it is below a certain number she has a 15 carb snack before. Her school is required to have a full time nurse available to assist her, not sure if that is required with your state.
Thank you everyone. We live in Montreal, Canada. There are attendants that are assigned to be there when she takes her bs levels . So far it is going well with a timer on an old phone. I made it clear that I didn’t want my daughter to have extra responsibilities and that there will always be an adult present . The timer is there to remind her it is time so this way there is less distraction ansd it will help her stay on task. There is always an adult there when she takes it. The levels are taken in the class, so there is no time taken away from class time. All the other children are aware of her condition and are supportive. Thanks again everyone.
My daughter is 7 and newly diagnosed type one three weeks ago.
The school we have her in is amazing, especially the nurse. I think, legally it is the schools responsibly, but I am teaching hannah, ( my daughter) to allways take the initiative for her blood sugars and insulin. She obviously needs supervision now. Our out goal is that next year she can the one supervising the nurses at the school. A good example of this, one night I fell asleep early while the kids were still up. Hannah came into my room, woke me up and said, “aren’t you going to give me my sho? I already checked my blood sugar.” She had the pen ready and primed.
. She has 3 different teachers, and I wouldn’t want to interrupt the teacher while teaching . So far it’s been ok, it was ever since that incident. It’s a learning lesson for them to be more vigilant.