When do you start "back to school" preparations?

[CMdeux]

Please answer for any food allergic children you have, even if your answers are different for different children. 

What kind of preparation do you do ahead of the new school year?  Any tips to make back-to-school easier?

[maeve]

Well, I guess I technically started 1.5 weeks ago when I got a set of EpiPens and an inhaler for camp.  Those pens and inhaler will go to school to be held in the nurse's office.  I'll get school allergy plans signed tomorrow at our annual allergist's visit.  We also had our 504 review the week after school started and discussed the annual meeting we hold with DD's teachers just before the start of the school year.
 
And on a non-food allergy note, we bought all of DD's school supplies yesterday. Holy cow was the list long and specific.  Whatever happened to a few notebooks, one binder, and some pens?

[ajasfolks2]

Hard to answer as each year depends on if/when we move and have to register in new district.

Also depends on when the allergist appt is -- sometimes in spring and sometimes in summer with new allergist and sometimes in fall (esp if homeschooling and don't have to deal with school form-o-rama).

I'd like to add that I'm WEARY of all of this and wish that *all* we had to do was advocate for them academically, where necessary.

Between the moves, the LTFA and the bullying, it's been quite the wild ride for this family.

[MaryM]

I started prepping with the school nurse at the end of the school year.  She provided me with the forms the school would like on file and we went over 504 plan.  In mid August, once I have class assignments, I email the teachers regarding each child's allergies to make sure they are aware of the situation.  We have been very fortunate thus far(DS just completed 3rd grade and DD K) and I am hoping for continued success in the coming school year.

[becca]

We are in a routine where we get new med forms signed each year, but it is the same each year.  So, I print them off and drop them at the ped office to sign a couple of weeks before school starts.  The other FA policies are standard for the school(until we go to a new one again) and fairly comprehensive.  If we did not have policies in place, I would be sure to go over any concerns a few weeks prior to the start of the year, and do still email the team and nurse about dd, so they know who she is, her allergies, regardless of the policies.  I do not presume the communications happen the way they should  I flag all faculty. 

DD is only PA and TNA these days, brings lunch everyday, and is not seeming to be contact sensitive anymore.  In preschool she used to get the occasional hive or swollen eye.  Has not happened for 9 years, perhaps, and she is exposed to peanut protein at school for sure.  Kids bring it and have nutty foods at school and now, in Jr. High, she sits wherever she wants. 

So, her age and personal history play into out routine.  In preschool/early elementary I was much more involved at the start and throughout the school year.  In those years, I provided educational materials to the preschool, and had meetings with teachers. 

[twinturbo]

I tend to maintain altitude in school prep but I schedule accordingly if that makes sense. All my ducks to be lined up I take care of at a steady pace but the meetings are clustered around end of August. For example I'm meeting the lawyer officially in early August but all the medical is processed Jun-Jul. School meetings and sped evals end of August through about Sept.

Then it's 9 months of whack-a-mole for dealing with food in classroom and curriculum issues. Those get routed on a decision tree and processed as needed.

[ajasfolks2]

Then it's 9 months of whack-a-mole for dealing with food in classroom and curriculum issues.

<respectfully snipped>

LOL at the whack-a-mole image . . . good thing I didn't have mouthful of iced tea!