Diabetes is a common chronic disease in school-age children. Since kids spend almost half of their waking hours at school, proper diabetes care and management are important during the school day. Through appropriate diabetes management, complications associated with diabetes can be delayed or prevented.
Most children depend on family members and school staff, including teachers, supervisors and school nurses to provide a safe school environment. Therefore, coordination of care between family, school, and diabetes healthcare provider is crucial.
It is important that a child, under the supervision of the school staff, pay attention to the fluctuation of blood sugar levels and manage them throughout the school day. This helps
- Maintain the safety of child with diabetes at school
- Ensure that there are no long-term complications
- Prevent severe complications
- Ensure full participation in all school activities
As diabetes educators, we recommend that you follow the below precautions for the best diabetes care:
The ages at which a child can rely on themselves in diabetes management are individual and variable. A child’s abilities and willingness to rely on themselves and ask for help should be respected.
Nursery / Kindergarten
It is a sensitive stage due to the age of your child and their inability to express themselves accurately, so there must be good follow-up within the school from an internal companion or a parent, especially the newly diagnosed children.
Primary School
At this age, your child cooperates in some diabetes tasks. Most children are able to measure blood sugar by finger pricking under supervision or assistance, or using modern devices that facilitate testing without pricking. Your child should also be able to describe feeling the symptoms of low blood sugar, such as; feeling tired, dizzy, increased heartbeat, and high blood sugar symptoms such as; headaches, abdominal pain and frequent access to the bathroom, also some can inject insulin by themselves, but under the supervision of the nurse, but they cannot determine and calculate the dose of insulin that must be injected.
Middle School
Your child is usually able to administer their own insulin, while determining the appropriate dose is the responsibility of the parents. The number of units suitable for injection is recorded on each type of food, meaning that the pupil can manage himself alone under the usual circumstances when he does not suffer from hypoglycemia (depending on the duration of diabetes).
Secondary Stage
Your child must be able to measure blood sugar, administer injections and determine the dose under normal conditions (when he/she does not suffer from a low blood sugar levels). Your child should also be able to prevent any incidences of high blood sugar and can take insulin without supervision.
In all ages
Children with diabetes may need help with a blood sugar test when blood sugar levels are low. In addition, many need to be reminded to eat sugars during hypoglycemia and should not be left without supervision until the low blood sugar is treated and returns to normal.
