Teachers: Welcome Back to School! In my world, “teachers, thank goodness you came back!” After years of chaperoning and helping within the classroom, I stand firm that being a teacher is the hardest most unsung occupation that has the biggest impact on our world. I don’t know how you do it, but I’m glad you do and thank you. In the spirit of supporting your work, I wanted to share three important tips when managing students with food allergies, including a few resources. I know and appreciate the extra miles you go to not only educate, but keep my child safe! There are not enough words to say thank you enough! If you have tips to share with us parents, please share in the comments section below! I know that I don’t understand how a classroom works–so any tips for me would be very welcomed!
3 Important Tips for Teachers with Food Allergic Students in their Classroom or School.
All student’s health and educational needs are unique and need to be treated this way. Hence, the need for Individual Education Plans (IEP), Individual Health Plans (IHP) and 504 plans. In addition to strict adherence to those plans these tips might help support your successful school year.
- Review Own Own Teacher Checklist. Not all parents ask for IEP, IHP or 504 plans. Therefore, knowing how to approach food allergies using general, common best practices in the classroom can be very helpful! Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) offers a comprehensive best practice checklist that you may want to consider downloading: Teacher Checklist for Managing Food Allergies. Also, defer to your school or district’s food allergy management policy if available.
- Ask Yourself: Are you ready to Prevent and Respond to an Allergic Emergency? If you have received a plan and have reviewed it, step back for a moment and ask yourself if you are comfortable with your practices to avoid allergens? Are you prepared for an emergency? What would be your first step? At home we practice with Epi Pen® and Auvi-Q® trainers and review how we will respond to an emergency often. Being familiar takes away any fear and gives opportunity to ask questions. Allergy Home produced this poster that is a good reminder of the two pillars of managing food allergies: Prevention and Emergency Preparedness. You may download the Food Allergy Management Poster for free too!
- Exclusion hurts. Separating a student from full participation, when solutions are available, is creating a separate but equal learning situation. The message adults hear is that children are being kept safe by being separated from allergens; children hear that they have low value since no one cares enough to incorporate a viable solution. For example, if students receive a reward for high test scores, the reward should be an item that every child in the class could earn and enjoy-be it a food or non food item. If the reward is a Hershey Kiss and there are diabetic or food allergic children in the classroom, then the reward has little value and sends a different message. Work with your student’s family or your district regarding how to include students. I wrote a blog post last spring about how it is easy to exclude students accidentally and what it means to students: Dear Teacher of My Food Allergic Child
I took a screen shot this morning of Allergy Home’s Free downloadable poster wall–there are great posters here!
Go Away Seasonal Allergies!
One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..
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