Tips for talking to kindergartners about T1D

Type 1 and LADA Parents of Children with Type 1 Diabetes
#1

Hi everyone,

My daughter started kindergarten yesterday and next week I'm going to talk to her class about T1D. I have the Lilly diabetes books with Coco the monkey and plan to read the one about Coco going back to school, but I was just wondering if any of you have talked to your kids' classmates and how you went about explaining things.

My daughter wears the pod and Dexcom, so I want to explain what they are as well. Any thoughts or tips on how to explain all of this to 5-6 y/o kids would be great!

Thanks,
Aimee

#2

Hello Aimee - Another great book is My own type one diabetes book It is free and downloadable - it talks about what T1D is and is not. Perfect for the K age group. You can find it and other useful books (One about pumping and - also a very small charming book called A special kind of pump) - and games at www.grandmasandy.com. As a disclaimer this is the work of my wonderful mother who wrote it for my son Malcolm when he was 5 - She donated the site and her work to Diabetes Hands Foundation last year.

#3

We liked Taking Diabetes to School and we edited to fit my son’s specific routine.

#4

My son is 5 and we held him back to repeat pre-k 4 (we want him to give him another year to play). So far we never really explained in a "big" way. The kids just know. I think the teachers have handled it in a "no big deal" kind of way and if someone asks where he is going or about his pump we just tell them. Last year we did get the CGM in January and the first two weeks the alarms were going off all the time and the kids were making a fuss when it did so they did have to explain that it's not an emergency.... LOL I believe there ended up being one boy who always looked out for Joe and quietly alerted the teacher to a beep that wasn't heard by all! The kids seem to accept it as easily as they do a friend with an allergy. Since it is working I just go with it.