Heading to a new school can be exciting and nerve-wracking all at the same time. For the student, new experiences, new people, and new challenges await. For the parent, there will be milestones and growth to witness, new challenges to navigate, and new steps toward independence to embrace.
Of course, as with most things, adding food allergies into the mix adds an additional layer of consideration and due diligence. From daycare to college, integrating the school as another component of food allergy management is as big a part of the overall experience as homework, field trips, and grades.
Know Your Rights
Whether you’re enrolling your child in a private daycare, sending them to kindergarten in your public school district, or prepping them to move into a college dorm for the first time, there’s some legwork to be done before you start looking into schools and facilities. Take time to research state and federal laws relating to the accommodations and support these educational spaces are required to offer students and staff with disabilities and medical needs.
In general, any facility or organization providing public accommodations (private schools, recreation centers, restaurants, and hotels, to name a few) must comply with title III of the ADA. Any provider or facility receiving federal funds must comply with title II of the ADA, which includes the creation of an enforceable 504 plan: a written plan detailing how the school will provide reasonable accommodations to a student with a hidden disability like food allergies, asthma, and others. You’ll find more specific details about what all this means here on the ADA website.
Other resources to consider:
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Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America’s Child Care Policy Document – This includes a list of 9 policy standards and a checklist of how the laws in each state align with those policies. In other words, it’ll help you with some of the legwork of understanding the state laws that may apply.
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FARE Food Allergy Collage Search – The current database doesn’t contain information on every college and university you might consider, but it does have more than 1200 of them to get your search started. It’s a good place for preliminary research about what policies are in place at the listed schools. Don’t see the school you want (or the answers you hoped for)? Schedule a conversation with the school to get your questions answered.
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FAACT’s 504 Info Sheet – Not sure whether a 504 plan applies to your family? This one-pager should give you a good overview of what is involved and how it applies.
Visit Your Options
If you’ve got a choice of where to send your child, schedule a visit. You’ll find plenty of information online both from the schools themselves and from folks that have experience with them. However, that’s not the same as seeing it all for yourself. For younger children, ask to see where allergy medications would be stored during the school day. For older students living on campus, ask to see food services and other relevant accommodations.
Ask All the Questions
Make a list of the things you (and your child) need to know to make an informed decision and then ask the questions. Ask them all. Ask about current policies. Ask how accommodations are identified, approved, and implemented. Ask who is trained to assist a student in the event of an allergic reaction. Ask about how substitutes are informed about allergy management plans. You’ll find some helpful ideas about considerations for food allergies on FARE’s website here: Early Childhood Care Centers & Education, K-12 Recommendations, and College Resources. (Scroll down to view the list of questions for Housing, Food Services, and more!)
Work with Your Allergist
Keep in mind that the right way to manage food allergies will vary to a degree from individual to individual. What works for one family may not be the same protocol that works for another. Work with your family’s board-certified allergist to identify the right plan of action for your child’s specific needs. Ask your doctor to document an allergy action plan that can be shared with childcare providers, schools, and other appropriate organizations.
Empower Your Child
As a parent, you can cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s, but when all is said and done, you’re not in the classroom or on the campus to implement the plans you helped put in place. Your child, however, is. Work with your child to make them a partner in their own allergy management. Give them age-appropriate responsibility for self-care. Teach them how to talk to teachers and other care providers about their allergies. Help them identify adults and support systems they can trust to care for them and their allergies.
Yes, young children will have a limited capacity to understand their allergies and control their environment, but preparing them to take on responsibility as a college bound student starts with their first school experience as a youngster.
