Parents of kids with contact food allergies - long

How do you handle shared supplies and specials? DH & I are struggling with keeping DS as safe as possible while not making him feel different or isolated.

In addition to his airborne & ingestion reactions, DS severe contact reactions to dairy. In his classroom his teacher is keeping most of his supplies separate but doing so surreptitiously so that the other kids hopefully don't notice and DS doesn't feel different. There are a few things that he will be sharing (unifix cubes for math, indoor recess games, etc) She's also made sure that the allergy free lunch table (there are 3 kids in her class with severe food allergies) is next to her regular class table so they don't feel isolated.

I've been asked how we want to handle specials.

Music - We're going to ask that he not use any wind instruments that other children have used.

Art - We've been asked if we want him to have separate supplies as much as possible. I think this will be able to be done inconspicuously like in his regular class.

Computers - This is where we are struggling the most. We would really like for him to have a dedicated mouse and keyboard cover (which we're happy to pay for) but DH is worried that's going to make him feel different and be a possible place for him to be teased.

He's already come home one day upset that the other boys were making fun of him for not seeing the Avengers movie over the summer, even though he knows his doctors haven't cleared him for the movies after an airborne peanut reaction in the spring. He was embarrassed to tell them that. We're now working with his allergist to try to come up with a strategy to allow him to go to places like the movies and still keep him safe.

Message edited 9/10/2012 7:23:03 AM.

Re: Parents of kids with contact food allergies - long

A peanut allergy is nothing to be embarrased by, and if kids are making fun of him for it, I would bring it to the attention of the teacher so the other kids can have some sensitivity training. Especially since there are other allergy children in the class. Maybe she can use it as a teaching opportunity instead of sneakily putting the supplies to the side, etc. You WANT the other kids to know about the allergies so they don't put your child in danger. If the supplies have been mixed and the kids know about your son's allergy, I would bet some of them would be looking out for your son and speak up. If you are hiding that information to try to protect him, I think you are doing more harm then good. Your son's safety and well being trumps anything, so I would bring in the mouse and keyboard cover and tell your son to ignore it if he gets any comments.

Re: Parents of kids with contact food allergies - long

Parents of kids with contact food allergies - long

Can they wipe the keyboard and mouse with a baby wipe or lysol wipe before he uses it? Would that be enough? They could have everyone wipe down so germs arent spread (not specifying allergy or cold) and then just ask the teacher to do his so he doesnt touch?

Even though you dont want his allergy to be out there all the time, your ds needs to feel comfortable discussing it. He has nothing to be embarrassed about and will hopefully be able to speak up next time to other kids. Maybe when the movie comes out on dvd he can have a viewing party and invite a few kids over?

Re: Parents of kids with contact food allergies - long

My son sort of feels that his egg allergy makes him special in a good way. I believe that the teacher in his 3 year old class somehow made him feel that way. There was a school party last week & I brought in something separate for him & they made it so no one else knew. I appreciated that b/c he is in a new school and he may feel differently than he did last year. I think that the teachers have become so experienced in this that they usually handle it well. I would go ahead and purchase the keyboard cover & see how it goes. I am not saying to shout about the allergy from the rooftop but even in pre-k there were kids who would look out for my son and there were definitely other parents who would see things and remind the kids and teachers that DS can't share some things. You mentioned the school psychologiost. Did you ask specifically about what to do with the computer?

Re: Parents of kids with contact food allergies - long

The teachers, psychologist, etc. have left the decision up to us. I was just hoping someone here had some experience with it since I know there are people on here with 504s for their FA kids.

Re: Parents of kids with contact food allergies - long

Well you mentioned wind instruments. I would hope they would sanitize them after each child use them - so I would think that would be okay. I would hope they would be throughly cleaning them down for germs - and you could talk to the teacher about making sure that they are all throughly cleaned.

Key boards too. I would talk to them about giving them a good cleaning between classes. What would they need to use to clean them so that they would be safe for your DC? Maybe they could assign seats so that your DC only uses one keyboard mouse - and they could try to assign them to kids with similar allergies or nut free etc kids. Either way I would think it would cut down on illness in general if you simply spoke with them about giving keyboards a thorough cleaning after each class.

I know it must be scary - DD is lucky as her allergies aren't severe but she won't tell her classmates she has food allergies. Which makes it hard. I would think they would be able to do some sort of cleaning and maybe do assigned seating so no one else has to know and they could maybe have a keyboard they could pull out just for him - or a wind instrument just for him. If they assign a seat for everyone no one would be the wiser except for you, your DC, and their teacher.