It’s Back-to-School time! When meeting with the teacher, it’s critical that they fully understand about your child’s allergy; they’ll be one of the biggest team members to help keep your child safe. Discuss with them any concerns you may have, and find out their suggestions to help increase safety… they’re the ones who know about the classroom dynamics and how the school day flows.
Here are 3 important topics you’ll want to discuss with your child’s teacher:
- Informing, educating, and reminding:
Offer to share books, videos, or resource links for materials that will help your child’s classmates (and their parents) gain a better understanding of food allergies. If they’re sending a letter to the parents, offer them assistance in writing it if needed.
Also, discuss reminding the parents often about the food allergy, especially after holiday breaks. They could easily state a reminder in a newsletter or other source saying, “Thank you for helping keep your child’s classmate safe by….” and then list the food allergy safety rules.
There are some great resources available for teaching classmates, including:
- Lesson Plan for Binky Goes Nuts
*Make sure they know it’s also important to inform you of any planned parties or field trips.
- Avoiding allergen: Educate them on label reading and give them a list of different names for the allergen. Inform them that certain allergens can be found in products like art supplies, pet food (if there’s a classroom pet), soaps and lotions.
If it has a label, they need to read it! If the items are already in the classroom, ask to see them and go over the labels.
Here are some resources for label reading:
Discuss the possibility of not having snacks in the classroom during the year and only using non-food items for parties, celebrations, and rewards. Another possibility you could discuss is only allowing “safe” snacks that are individually wrapped and labeled. Make sure they know how important it is that your child doesn’t eat anything that hasn’t been approved by you first. Be sure to let them know where they can find resources for ideas on allergy-friendly snacks and non-food party items.
Here are some safe allergy-friendly snack ideas:
Our Pinterest page: AllergyFreeZone
Snack Safely‘s Guide (be sure to only use the most updated guide)
(Always check the ingredients & manufacturing before purchasing or consuming a product)
Discuss cross-contact (contamination from the allergen) and properly cleaning the allergen from surfaces. This is especially important if the classroom is used for after school events. Can the custodian pay special attention to cleaning areas like desks, floors, doorknobs, etc. in your child’s classroom?
Here are some resources about cross-contact:
- FARE – Avoiding Cross-Contact
*It’s also important for your child to clean their hands before and after eating – be sure to discuss how this can be done.
- Having a plan:
Go over your child’s allergy action plan together. Make sure they fully understand the signs and symptoms of an allergic reaction, and know how to administer an epinephrine auto-injector. Talk to them and find out how comfortable they are with the situation. Be sure to share any stories, pictures, or resources to help them “get it”.
Discuss the seriousness of bullying and ask the teacher if they can pay attention to what the students are saying and doing. Find out what will happen if a student bullies or teases your child about their food allergy.
Here are some resources on bullying:
- FAACT’s Information on Bullying
- Stopbullying.gov “Bullying and Youth with Disabilities and Special Health Needs”
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