school accommodations

[FMmom]

I have Kaelin's IEP meeting this week (Individual Education Plan). Do you have any food accommodations written into the school plan?

Kaelin is moving from Elementary School to Middle School next year. Lunch will no longer be at a set time -- it can vary by two hours, scheduled anywhere from 10:30 to 12:45. Also, there is no snacking in classrooms. So if Kaelin does not want to eat at 10:30 (which is highly probable), she'll be going without food from 6:45 until she gets home at 2:45.

Kaelin has an appointment with the Neurologist this week, so we'll see if her "blanking out" is something more than hypoglycemia -- but I'm assuming the blanking out is blood sugar related, which makes eating hugely important.

Any suggestions on accommodations I should have written into her school plan?

[Charlie Arnold]

I don't have anything in Megs IEP although at the top it states low energy and health problems as a possible cause. I did have a good set up whereby they kept a carton of milk (we can get 1/3rd pint cartons here) in the fridge and they gave that to her at morning break and another mid afternoon so at 10.15 and 2pm but she doesn't start till 8.45am. It worked well with one class but since there it always is very hit and miss, but they did all notice it helped if she was low, but not enough to motivate them to stick to it. Mind you, one can't take an IEP seriously when it says to quote "Mrs J runs a dysklexic phonics....."

The problem is the kids aren't aware enough yet of their own body signals to necessarily pick up in time that they are going hypoglycemic. So they need that organisation still, and yes, we all know there are lots of other children in the school etc etc, but 2 minutes twice a day regularly would help these kids so much it isn't much to ask is it? I share your frustrations about this.

We are seeing the dietitian tomorrow as Meg is back on the HFI diet for now to see if she has any ideas about what we could do. But yes, if you can get it written into her plans then they would then have to do it. Do you know what the protocol is for diabetics at your school, maybe look that up as they would have to have very controlled food times then maybe get your paediatrician to write up a similar plan.

The more and more I look into it I think the blanking is due to the fructose problem. Meg has had 3 clear EEG's now so it isn't petit mal but is clearly blanking out and I think she just runs out of fuel. I found a very good explanation of HFI the other day and printed it out for the teacher as it explains why they run out of energy due to the problems converting glycogen into energy so maybe we need to put our heads together and trial a school plan and write it up for wider use.

www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000359.htm


Meg seems to start things with great gusto but after 5 to 10 mins just seems to run out of fuel and they can't get her to write any more.

We are just coming up to 2 weeks holiday so I'm going to write a strict diet and exercise / activity plan and see what happens.

[FMmom]

I hadn't thought about the accommodations they make for diabetics. Good idea! I'll mention that... Our pediatrician told me that she will be happy to meet with the school to set up a plan for Kaelin -- I will probably take her up on that offer. Kaelin's weight fluctuates so much it's downright scary. We've got to keep her eating at school!!!!