V has a new math teacher this year. When my husband and I introduced ourselves at curriculum night in the beginning of the year, we mainly wanted to address some concerns we had regarding V’s learning. The teacher, however, had some really basic questions about V’s medical stuff and whether she would be sick a lot and miss many school days. It was clear that no one informed her of anything, even though V has a 504 plan and it should have been reviewed with her. When we got home, I sat down and composed a T1D and GF 101 email to help her better understand V’s needs.
Hello Ms. W,
It was nice meeting you this evening at curriculum night. We are hoping that this year will go better for V than last one. She did struggle with some material but also a big problem was her procrastination and lack of organization. We will monitor her grades and progress more closely this year and please let us know if you have any suggestions/recommendations on how to better support her.
In regards to her medical issues, let me just briefly explain them to you, as I see the school had done an outstanding job of giving you this important info. /sarcasm. 🙂
V has Type 1 Diabetes – an autoimmune disorder where the pancreas stops producing insulin. There is no known cause and there is no cure. She needs background insulin 24/7, as well as additional doses for any foods containing carbohydrates. She wears two devices. One is an insulin pump, another one is a continuous blood glucose monitor. Her pump (also called a pod) has a remote control which she uses to make dosing adjustments, give herself mealtime insulin, etc. While the pump delivers pre-programmed background insulin dosage 24/7, it does not “think” or “act” on its own, so V needs to enter her blood glucose and carbs data into the remote whenever she needs to make adjustments or deliver insulin dosage. She rotates her pump site every 2-3 days. She likes to wear pods her arms and legs, so they are often visible. Normally pump will be pretty silent, although you may hear quiet clicking form time to time – it means insulin is being delivered. Once in a while, it may malfunction and then it will make quite the noise! We lovingly refer to it as “the song of its people.” Hopefully it won’t happen during class. At any rate, V has all the back-up equipment on her and in the health office and can address issues quickly and independently, you do not need to worry about it.
The other device – continuous blood glucose monitor (Dexcom), she usually wears where it is concealed by her clothing. It measures her blood glucose in real time and transmits the data to the app on her phone. This is the device that may make noise sometimes, to alert V if her blood glucose is low or high. If you hear police sirens or really loud beeps, it’s probably V and, for better or worse, no one is getting arrested. I’m sure she already explained to you that she may need to use her phone in class to monitor blood sugar. Dexcom gives V a break from having to poke her fingers to know her blood sugar, and a huge peace of mind because it alerts her to high and low blood sugars, so she can take quick action and stabilize it.
The funny thing is, managing diabetes requires a LOT of math. V should be an expert in ratios, division, multiplication, fractions, percentages, proportions, and some other math functions. “Should” being the operative word here. As I’m typing this email, she’s reminding me “I suck at math, I hate math!” Followed by “I don’t hate math, I struggle in math.” Followed by ” I hope to get better.” Yes, there is hope!
V has a 504 plan in place. It contains some pretty basic accommodations, such as being able to use her phone during class ONLY for diabetes management purposes, testing her blood sugar before exams, being able to drink and eat and use the restroom as needed as it’s part of managing diabetes, etc. I will make a copy for you over the weekend. V is fully independent in managing diabetes and she is generally responsible and takes good care of herself.
V has another medical condition – Celiac – also an autoimmune disorder (because if you have one, why not have two! 😊 ), where her body cannot digest gluten – a protein found in wheat, barley and malt. Ingesting any gluten leads to damage to the lining of small intestine. She is on a strict gluten free diet, and she is very good about sticking to it, reading labels, and being very careful to avoid gluten.
V can eat anything as long as it does not contain gluten (or poison 😊), including candy. She just needs to give herself insulin to cover the carbs.
Neither her devices, nor diabetes, nor Celiac, should interfere with attendance. V does tend to get sick a little more than average, and it may take her a little longer to recover from illness, but it is not excessive. If for some reason we are facing unforeseen medical complications that may be impacting either her attendance or ability to do schoolwork, we will communicate it to you ASAP.
Thank you for taking the time to read the info and hopefully it is helpful. Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns or need more information/explanation.
We look forward to a great school year!
Respectfully,
Polina B
The teacher responded the next day thanking me for both the info and the sarcasm about not being informed. And now that I’ve written the letter, I will keep it handy for any other occasion when a basic explanation is in order.
Back to school: First day of 8th and 5th
T1D and Gluten-Free 