Funny in a head striking kind of way story

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Patricia

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Just a quick note all to report on something that happened with my son today at school.

He's just beginning Biology GCSE coursework, and one of the questions in class was does anyone know where glucogen and insulin come from, etc..? They were talking about homeostasis in blood sugar and other bodily things...

Anyway of course my son knew the answer -- the teacher then gave him three merits...and a Mars bar! My son, feeling a little guilty that he hadn't come by the answer quite honestly, being type 1 and all, then said, well actually sir I have diabetes -- upon which the teacher was HORRIBLY embarrassed and actually took the choc bar out of my son's hand, apologising profusely...He then stumbled about a bit saying he'd get an apple for him...my son tried to explain that he could have what he wanted as long as he covered it (quite liked the idea of the mars bar!)...but it all ended in some hilarity and bumbling.

Later in the class they got to talking more seriously, and the teacher was mega-impressed by the pump. I was proud of my son for showing it so willingly. Good teacher.

What this says about all teachers NOT KNOWING about my son's type 1 is not funny, and not the story. We'll address that later....

I just love the image of this mars bar being snatched of out of my son's hands, his reward for knowing about diabetes disappearing precisely because of his diabetes...Oh well. We had a laugh about it.
 
Crying with laughter reading this - not sure who I feel more sympathetic for - the well meaning but dopey teacher (has he heard of the obesity epidemic anyway, never mind diabetes lol!) or your lad, bless him, fessing up to insider knowledge!! Lovely story!! Going to bed with a smile now, thanks!!
 
LOL!!!!! 🙂 That has made me chuckle 🙂
 
lol I think the worrying thing here is that he was a biology teacher and didn't know a person with diabetes could eat a mars bar 🙄

I could swear my biology teacher explained the different types of Diabetes completely wrongly because I remember being particularly interested in Diabetes (spookily), but I didnt understand the difference between the two types after the teacher explained it, so I asked her to explain again. When I was diagnosed a couple of years later I completely understood straight away. All they need to do is talk about insulin being a key and allowing insulin into cells, type 1's don't proiduce their own insulin and type 2's do but need some help using it etc etc. Really isn't difficult. Anyway, Ive gone off on one... :D
 
Hilarious! I would have loved to have seen the teachers face! You couldnt have written it better could you! (well perhaps you could Patricia!).:D

Great that E wasnt phased by it and showed off his pump etc too...

Not great that the teacher was ignorant of his diabetes....I am sure you will get this sorted!😱Bev
 
Funny story - thanks for sharing it. However, I'm not so sure that it's essential that a secondary school biology teacher can be expected to know every pupil's medical conditions, particularly so early in the term - as Patricia shows, her son was perfectly able to explain his condition when the subject arose. A PE teacher should know from the outset, though.
I can speak from a combined background - qualified as nurse in 1988, gained BSc marine biology 1992 and diagnosed with diabetes in 1996. My endocinology course during degree covered all sorts of hormones, but mainly produced in echinoderms (sea urchins & starfish) rather than humans - and they don't eat mars bars! I consider knowing about what food someone with diabetes (slightly different for different types) can eat is a health care / management issue not a biology issue. I learned how to treat hypoglycaemia even earlier, in first aid courses in early 1980s.
In my opinion, a biology teacher should be expected to know that insulin is used to treat type 1 diabetes, but not about details of methods of administering, for example - pumps, pen needles, syringes, free prescriptions etc.
 
Sorry Copepod i disagree. If someone is teaching a diabetic child - they should at the very *least* know that they have a medical condition that may require either some intervention and help or at least so that the teacher will understand if the child requires some glucose if hypo.

I understand that they dont have to know the whole medical side of things - but a knowledge of what to do in an emergency situation is essential surely!

I expect every teacher that comes into contact with A to have the knowledge that he is diabetic - if they cant help him - at least they can go and get someone else who can. That is why we have care plans in school - and i fully expect all teachers to be aware of his condition.🙂Bev
 
Patricia said:
Just a quick note all to report on something that happened with my son today at school.

He's just beginning Biology GCSE coursework, and one of the questions in class was does anyone know where glucogen and insulin come from, etc..? They were talking about homeostasis in blood sugar and other bodily things...

Anyway of course my son knew the answer -- the teacher then gave him three merits...and a Mars bar! My son, feeling a little guilty that he hadn't come by the answer quite honestly, being type 1 and all, then said, well actually sir I have diabetes -- upon which the teacher was HORRIBLY embarrassed and actually took the choc bar out of my son's hand, apologising profusely...He then stumbled about a bit saying he'd get an apple for him...my son tried to explain that he could have what he wanted as long as he covered it (quite liked the idea of the mars bar!)...but it all ended in some hilarity and bumbling.

Later in the class they got to talking more seriously, and the teacher was mega-impressed by the pump. I was proud of my son for showing it so willingly. Good teacher.

What this says about all teachers NOT KNOWING about my son's type 1 is not funny, and not the story. We'll address that later....

I just love the image of this mars bar being snatched of out of my son's hands, his reward for knowing about diabetes disappearing precisely because of his diabetes...Oh well. We had a laugh about it.
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thats great patricia, so proud of your son also for talking openly about his diabetes in the class (probably because he wanted the mars bar 🙄), no seriously good stuff. Must be so hard for young ones to do this i imagine.
 
I know just what you mean. I taught my A level biology class a large portion of what wasn't in the text book about diabetes. We had to learn about it for our course as we were doing homeostasis in quite some depth. I even gave a talk at one point about living with diabetes.
 
bev said:
Sorry Copepod i disagree. If someone is teaching a diabetic child - they should at the very *least* know that they have a medical condition that may require either some intervention and help or at least so that the teacher will understand if the child requires some glucose if hypo.

I understand that they dont have to know the whole medical side of things - but a knowledge of what to do in an emergency situation is essential surely!

I expect every teacher that comes into contact with A to have the knowledge that he is diabetic - if they cant help him - at least they can go and get someone else who can. That is why we have care plans in school - and i fully expect all teachers to be aware of his condition.🙂Bev
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totally agree Bev
 
As a lecturer I agree I should know about the medical conditions of my students. I would say however that at the beginning of a course I will have all of the details available, but in the middle of a lesson may not remember them. All I can say is that should anything happen I would look in my teaching folder (which I always have with me) to look for specific details and info on how to help. Teachers are not infallible, and with so many new faces and details to learn at the start of the year can we expect them to be perfect?
 
Our superb DSN came to the school, albeit primary, on the last inset day last week and did a presentation to all of the staff from head, teachers, SENCO and TA's and INA's, they all were made aware of hypos and what to do and hypers etc etc and basic stuff. I was at the presentation. This same DSN would do the same thing for the secondary school and all relevant staff.

If a teacher has a child with epilepsy, asthma or diabetes in their class at any point in the day they need to know about it unless that child has a one to one which is unusual in a secondary school. It is imperative they know. If a child is hypo they can do bizarre things. For example Jessica was 3.3 the other day but it wasn't testing time and she has no symptoms. She spelt her name wrong and knew she had but couldn't work it out. She is 9 years old and can spell her name. She would not have told the teacher and she would not have tested. She has a one to one and that person noticed and tested and Jessica was 3.3. In a secondary school no way would Jessica have managed to sort it out and would have dropped lower and lower and eventually the teacher would have had to intervene !

So yes every single teacher needs to know what type of children with what type of problems they have in their classes. They don't necessarily need to be trained to deal with some things but a hypo yes, asthma yes, epilepsy yes.
 
Fantastic story Patricia , Thankyou so much for sharing it with us 🙂 I really want a Mars bar now tho :(
 
Patricia, that is a great story! Made me laugh out loud! Thanks for sharing! :D

I agree that all teachers should be made aware, right from day one, that a certain child has a certain condition and be given at least brief notes re condition to cover emergencies. 🙂
 
But this wasn't an emergency - the student wasn't going hypoglycaemic, needing action by any else, and was able to say he could eat a Mars bar. I agree that teachers hould know how to treat an emergency, not just for diabetes, but also asthma, epilepsy, allergic reaction / anaphylasix etc.
 
Copepod said:
But this wasn't an emergency - the student wasn't going hypoglycaemic, needing action by any else, and was able to say he could eat a Mars bar. I agree that teachers hould know how to treat an emergency, not just for diabetes, but also asthma, epilepsy, allergic reaction / anaphylasix etc.
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Why does it need to be an emergency for the teacher to know that a child in his care is diabetic and could possibly have a hypo requiring an ambulance?
The problem here is that the teacher was ignorant of the fact that E was diabetic - this should not be the case. A school care plan is put in place with the help of a DSN, school nurse and the parents. Why do we go to so much trouble to agree on a care plan if the teacher who is acting in loco-parentis (sp) is in the dark that a child in his care has a life threatening condition?

I wouldnt want a teacher to have to find a booklet in his bag to read up on any medical conditions - when my child is lying on the floor having a low hypo!😱

What if E had had a hypo 20 minutes earlier and required help? It is only by good luck and good fortune that E has educated the teacher on his condition. (sorry Patricia to use E as the example). There is absolutely no excuse for this teacher to be ignorant about the health of a child in his care. After all there are roughly 30 pupils in a class - how many of them are likely to be diabetic? If there is only one - then surely it is in everyones interest that the teacher acquaints his/herself with who it is? This is very basic 'duty of care' in my opinion.🙂Bev
 
Hello all

Well, I feel fairly laid back myself about what teachers do and don't know at this stage of the year. It was his first session with this science teacher, and there are 32 boys in the class 😱. As a teacher myself (albeit at university), I know it can take a couple of sessions to get up to speed with each student. And while a 13 yr old is different from an 18 yr old, they aren't *that* different, and my son is extremely switched on and mature about everything...And I wouldn't expect to know every medical detail about one of my students, not initially anyway, even though I will have been informed by the disability or medical unit. I am much more likely to make time to speak to each student about his/her preferences etc...

That aside, I think I would feel quite different if E were 11 and just starting secondary, or certainly in primary school. These situations strike me as completely different. For one thing, in a primary school there are a limited number of teachers, which also means that each teacher has fewer students to keep track of...The duty of care upon primary teachers/assistants is much greater than in secondary school. And for exactly this same reason, only in reverse, would I worry about the first year of secondary school: the child is not quite up to backing up the distributed information him/herself, but it's important that the information be known -- for many more teachers.

Saying all this (!), I do have concerns generally that this school's 'hands off' approach is closer to a lack of general awareness. There are no difficulties with E testing, treating, carrying glucose to PE etc, but he is responsible for *every* aspect of his diabetes at school. My main worry is that should he become *unable* to be responsible, would this be recognised and/or acted upon properly? I've been trying to figure out how to approach them again with the information. I think the SENCO there is a little clueless, so I'm trying to identify the next best person...

As for this particular teacher -- he has an excellent reputation in the school. I would bet good money on him heading straight to E's displayed care plan in the staff room!

Tom, I'm with you on educating your fellow students etc. E admitted that later in the conversation the teacher was actually slightly misinformed (confusing the two types of diabetes a little) -- so I reckon he will be called upon to do something a bit more formal. And if not, I think he'll step forward.

Katie, we also had a spooky thing about diabetes come up with E well before diagnosis: almost three years ago he and my daughter made their first film, which was a series of 'television reports'. In one of the reports, he was presenting a health show, and at the end of it, he said 'next week we will be looking at diabetes -- I'm not sure what it is, but I'm sure it'll be very interesting'! This was when he was ten. He was diagnosed almost exactly two years later.
 
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None of my lecturers knew I had diabetes when I was at Uni, and my head of year found out only in the final year, oops!

Patricia said:
Katie, we also had a spooky thing about diabetes come up with E well before diagnosis: almost three years ago he and my daughter made their first film, which was a series of 'television reports'. In one of the reports, he was presenting a health show, and at the end of it, he said 'next week we will be looking at diabetes -- I'm not sure what it is, but I'm sure it'll be very interesting'! This was when he was ten. He was diagnosed almost exactly two years later.
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Freaky isn't it?? 😱 Do you still have the video? Me and my brother used to record radio shows :D
 
I only told my lecturers during my MSc about diagnosis 1 year earlier, when approaching end of term 1 exams, which were up to 3 hours long, and I wanted to check that eating a few Polo mints or a ceral bar would be OK. These days, 13 years after diagnois, I wouldn't bother - but have absolutely no intention of doing another degree! As I was well over 18, I don't think they have the same duty of care for older students as for pupils aged under 16 years.
 
katie said:
None of my lecturers knew I had diabetes when I was at Uni, and my head of year found out only in the final year, oops!



Freaky isn't it?? 😱 Do you still have the video? Me and my brother used to record radio shows :D
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Yeah, we still have the DVD, looked at it a few months ago. None of us had remembered this passage, and it was a huge shock -- made me cry, in fact! To see his young face, so open and innocent of what was coming...

Oh well.

***
The only way I would know about any of my students' conditions is if they inform the relevant bodies and agree to have information passed on. Otherwise of course I wouldn't know. And I will never mention anything unless a student indicates either in class or in private that we are 'on the same page'.

I do think I would be a little freaked out though if there were someone in my class with t1 and I didn't know about it...It's probably happened. But I'd rather know!
 
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