In the last couple years, I've worked as an apprentice teacher and a substitute teacher. This experience, so far, has given me an interesting perspective on what could happen with food allergic children during the school day. Every class I substitute in has a different situation food allergy-wise. I work in different classrooms, in several districts, and I don't see any consistency within schools or districts about how substitute teachers are informed about children's life threatening allergies (or asthma, or even diabetes).
As a sub, you are lucky if there is a lesson plan for the day. Information on potentially serious medical problems? Not so much. In one class, the teacher not only left plans, but actually left a folder with copies of the students' emergency allergy plans and their photos! That was great! There were, however, no epipens in the classroom and no indication of where the epipens were. There also were no simple easy-to-find directions on what to do to get help, in case of an emergency. How do you reach the nurse? Do they really expect a child with a serious allergic reaction to walk to the nurse's office? In another classroom, at another school, a set of epipens were kept near the door of the classroom in a bag, but I was given no instructions about what to do other than carry them every time we left the classroom. These two days were the exceptions. Most days, I receive no information about allergies. I quickly figured out which students had asthma because they were wheezing after gym class and asked to go to the nurse. I really believe it would be in the students' best interest if their substitute teachers--at least at the elementary level--were informed about which students have asthma, diabetes, or life threatening allergies, and I'm sure I'm leaving out many other serious medical conditions too.
The substitute teacher angle is just one problem. As you know, there are a multitude of issues in the schools we can work on. I'd love to hear what your child's school does when there is a substitute teacher! Leave me a comment and let me know.
1 comment:
I can really appreciate what you are saying here, as I have subbed at my son's school. And there was one very outspoken parent who was sure everyone knew about her daughter's walnut allergy. It was a very small school, so it was easy.
I have also had my own food allergies and a trip to the emergency room and epipen for future exposures. However, what I want to impress on everyone with allergies, is they DO NOT have to continue. You DO NOT have to live with allergies. Mine are GONE.
I first went to an accupuncturist who practiced NAET (Namboodrapod's Allergy Elimination Technique), which got rid of my food allergies. After developing pollen allergies when I moved to a new area, I saw a chiropracter who used NMT (NeuroModulation Technique) to eliminate my seasonal allergies. It's all a matter of re-programming the immune and nervous systems to be in better communication, recognize what it's doing wrong. The methods I mentioned then direct the body to do something different with regard to the allergens. To NOT attack them.
I was so impressed with the outcome that I learned NMT and now practice it and help people (particularly autistic kids) overcome their allergies. I find where there are allergies, there is usually autoimmune behavior to some extent, which leads to inflammation, sometimes body-wide, sometimes localized (like in the small intestine as in Celiac Disease). This will cause degeneration of tissues over time.
The body can be re-wired to "cure" itself, from the inside out. No pills, no drugs. It IS possible. I do it all the time for people.
Anyone who is interested can check out these websites: www.HeartFullHealing.com and www.NMT.md.
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