I just gotta ask… why is it a fight worth fighting when they can just use the receiver instead? Doesn’t seem like a worthwhile battle…
Maybe using a receiver can be considered by some as not being “unlimited”. 
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Simple, one, it isn’t a fight, they add it to the 504 and its done.
Second, my son asks me advice to double check his decision making once or twice a week, plus consults anytime anything weird happens. We do it discreetly by text, but without that I feel like my son would have less support then he needs, and might make a decision that isn’t in his best interest.
i.e. once a month or so he comes up with a treatment plan, but forgets to account for his after school activity (they are quite variable). A simple text and we have been managing this really well.
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I was looking at the testing center requirements for accommodations for taking the MCATS… which I am considering doing when I retire from sailing, I decided I’d rather do them without any accommodation if I’m ever ready to take them…
The whole 504 thing I don’t know anything about…so anyone that wants to fill me in on what it is, how it’s used, etc., I’d be much obliged.
Also, in the case I mentioned above, the teacher in front of the whole class told my son to stop messing with his diabetes stuff, and go to the hall to treat himself. When questioned, she said she felt uncomfortable with him dosing in her classroom, and that he wasn’t being disruptive.
Well that is exactly what a 504 is for. Daddy Bear and Principle used the document to help her understand my son’s rights. She has kept her mouth shut since.
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I think just having the ability to go to the bathroom when you need, would be worth the hassle, but hey, it’s your test.
I’ll start a thread about 504’s.
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The amount of hoops to be jumped through to allow for any accommodation just don’t seem worth it, and I have my own personal psychological objections to taking advantage of them, I’ll study the topic more thoroughly if I ever actually take the test
Why should any student “miss out” on lecture, notes, etc., in class? What you’re suggesting is that anytime they need to treat themselves, check their BG, etc., they should just excuse themselves and that doesn’t seem fair to the student, to me. Do you think the teacher is going to stop lecture to wait for that student to get back? Rhetorical question. I don’t think any child with diabetes should miss out on any education just because they have a disease that they didn’t ask for.
For the kids it isn’t really a hassle, since they already have a 504, the school counselor sends in a request and it gets approved. That is it.
Well that’s one side of the equation, the other is the reasonable expectation that students who have medical needs to attend to (not just diabetes) would do them in private… we don’t necessarily get to define the point at which that expectation no longer becomes reasonable…
Take, for example, a young person with a chronic wound on their body that requires dressing changes every 4 hours… should they do it in the classroom? Why not? They might do it at home without excusing themselves into privacy? What’s the difference? Well really the only difference is in our own perspective, assuming that most of us here live with diabetes in our households and treating it is normal but treating a chronic wound might not be…
But who is to define what’s reasonable in a public setting like school? Is it even in their own long term best interest to fight for them to be managing a chronic disease in front of all their peers instead of excusing themselves any time it becomes necessary? I don’t have all the answers but I think about this sort of stuff a lot…
Exactly!, that is exactly why you pursue a 504 if you are in the public school system, it protects your child for the grand total cost of one meeting a year.
You’re being silly now. There’s a huge difference between a blood drop and a gaping wound. But I don’t have a problem with a gaping wound child changing their dressing if they can do so without endangering other students or school officials.
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That’s my point, the comparison is only silly from your perspective, and my own, which are not universally shared
It’s silly from any rational, reasonable persons perspective.
What is a reasonable person?
The “reasonable person” represents how most people within a community would behave in any given situation. The reasonable person standard embodies this behavior and is used to determine whether a defendant has acted negligently.
This is relating to court and jurisprudence of course, but the same definition can be applied to this discussion.
@Sam, we parents are facing these choices in our daily life.
For me, I am pretty adamant that I want my kid to be able to do everything he needs to do without any disruption, i.e. without having to go to the health room unless absolutely necessary. I also want him to be able to go to the bathroom whenever he needs to – which includes during tests, have glucose and water by his desk, and be able to bring his lunch from the cafeteria into the next class if he is too high to eat all his carbs at lunch.
This is not something I philosophize about. That’s just how I feel he needs to be able to lead his life in school.
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The 504 plan.
But just as strong of an arguement could be made that any rational reasonable person would reasonably choose to tend to their personal medical needs in privacy… I certainly chose to, does that make me irrational or unreasonable?
I wish Sam was wrong, but that is exactly why protections are needed for children. They can’t effectively fight back against teachers without an expectation of a bad grade, and so at times their parents need to lead the fight. I know that if you quizzed my son’s teachers at least two would strip him of the ability to test in their classroom. One wouldn’t allow him to touch his pump without the nurses approval.
And we are in one of the best districts with a fully supportive principle and nursing staff, who allows diabetes dogs into the classroom.
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