Hi Lisa, thank you for your question to the forum.

We can understand you being worried that there is delay in treating your daughter’s hypo.

We advise that it’s best for children to test their blood glucose level (BGL) and treat the hypo immediately wherever the child might be – in the classroom, at sport or in the playground. The reasons are as follows: if the child is going low and is taken to the office or elsewhere prior to treating the hypo, by the time they arrive at the office they will have expended energy, the BGL will have dropped further and the hypo will be more difficult to treat and may result in a severe hypo.  Also, taking the child away from class or play affects class work and/or socialisation.  Even if a buddy is used to accompany the child this is a big responsibility for that buddy.

We would advise you to ask for a school visit by a diabetes educator (if possible) to support you in the management of your daughter’s diabetes at school.  All the staff should be present as they will all come into contact with your daughter at some point in her school life.  If you do not have access to diabetes educator, you may need to do the visit yourself. Useful resources to assist include the IDF School pack (see link below).

It is also important to make it clear to the staff that your daughter is only 6 years old and that she will not be able to manage her diabetes all by herself all of the time.  While acknowledging that the staff have to look after many children in their care, your daughter will require a level of supervision.  It’s good to encourage your daughter to look after herself, however, it’s vital that she feels that she can ask any of the staff for help at any time and feel she’s being listened to.