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Sensory Friendly Easter Egg Hunt (Part 2)

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Sensory friendly Easter eggs shouldn’t be filled with candy or other foods. The reason is many children with sensory processing issues have difficulty with food due to certain textures and flavors. This often causes food aversions (a strong dislike for particular foods). Each child has their own unique issue with certain textures and flavors so there is no such thing as a universal food that they can all enjoy.

A way of including all children would be to fill the sensory friendly Easter eggs with various toys like cars, dinosaurs, animals, and stickers. Using toys ensures that the kids would leave with the toys to play with, rather than candy or food that may be left behind uneaten. If you try a sensory friendly Easter egg hunt this year, please let us know how it went. Also let us know if you have any other suggestions to make it an even more successful event.

Strep Throat, Stay Home!

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It is currently cold and flu season throughout the country. We would like to remind you of an example of when your child should be kept home from school. If all families did their part, the spread of disease would be greatly reduced. Colds and flu can spread so easily, so it’s important that parents take precautions to prevent others from catching it.

If your child is diagnosed with strep throat, 24 hours of antibiotic therapy is required before returning to school. Besides harming everyone else with these viruses, respiratory infections can trigger an asthma attack in certain susceptible children. We need to prevent these asthma attacks so keeping your student home from school can help. Parents need to be careful with their children. If they seem unwell, it’s probably better to keep them at home. This will keep everyone safe.

School Food Allergy Policy Gone Crazy (part 2)

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Do you remember when you were a child and your mother would bring in cupcakes to celebrate your birthday? Do you remember bringing in food for a holiday party for the last day before winter break? Remember trading some of your lunch items you didn’t want with a friend? Do you remember trading Halloween candy with your classmates the day after Halloween? Well no more! This is according to the food allergy policy at the Newton Public Schools in Newton, MA and other schools throughout the country. They are using political correctness to ruin celebrations for the entire student population due to a few that may have an allergy.

Here is an excerpt from the Newton Public Schools policy:

“It is a citywide School Committee policy that the sharing of food during snack and/or lunch is not allowed . . . It is also the policy that no food is to be brought into the classroom which means no cupcakes for birthdays or candy at Halloween or Valentine’s Day.”

What happened to allowing kids to be kids? What happened to personal responsibility where if one is allergic to something, they simply say “No thank you” and don’t eat it?

School Food Allergy Policy Gone Crazy (part 1)

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We just received a food allergy policy from one of the elementary schools at the Newton Public Schools in Newton, MA. What we found was shocking.  Gone are the days of having the kids with allergies sit at a nut-free table. Now they are forcing all kids that eat nuts to sit at a nut table and kids with hummus and chick peas to sit at a separate table. Has the world gone crazy?

Below is an excerpt from the food allergy policy:

“There will be a nut table in the cafeteria.  All students who bring lunch containing peanuts, other tree nuts (including some spreads such as Nutella) or sesame seeds must sit at this table. There will also be a hummus table in the cafeteria. All students who bring a lunch that has hummus or chickpeas must sit at this table.  All children will wash their hands before snack/lunch.  Children sitting at the nut table or hummus table must wash their hands after snack/lunch.  The staff will also wash all tables following snack and lunch, with special attention being paid to the washing of the nut table and hummus table. Classrooms that have a student with an allergy will have a separate table for nuts/ hummus for snack time.”

Food Allergy Plan #4: Contact Information

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FOOD ALLERGY PLAN #4

Give the school contact information for your child’s doctor or allergist in case there is a bad food reaction. This doctor should be someone familiar with your student’s food allergy problem. Preferably it should not be a random walk in clinic doctor that does not know your child, but a doctor that can address the issue with school staff in case of a problem.

Food Allergy Plan #3: How To Treat

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FOOD ALLERGY PLAN #3

Provide the school with information on what kind of treatment your student should receive in case of a food allergy reaction. For this you need to assume that your child ingested a food that they shouldn’t have. What would you want a teacher or school nurse that doesn’t know your child to do? Prepare for the worst. Food allergies are not predictable. Even if your child has had only minor reactions in the past, that doesn’t mean the next one won’t be severe.

Food Allergy Plan #2: Signs To Watch For

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FOOD ALLERGY PLAN #2

Make a list of any potential signs of a reaction your child may experience. This list should include all possibilities from the mild to the worst-case scenario. This information will be very helpful to teachers and other school staff so they will know what to watch out for.

Food Allergy Plan #1: List the Foods

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Your food allergy action plan should consist of detailed information that school staff can use in case of an allergic reaction. There are 4 major pieces of information that are vital to making a food allergy action plan successful. Over the next several days we will go in-depth into each essential part of the plan that may save your child’s life.

FOOD ALLERGY PLAN #1

Make a list of the foods that your student is allergic to. If it happens to be a specific chemical or ingredient, list all of the possible foods that contain what your child should watch out for.

Food Allergies In School

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Studies have shown that up to 25% of first time allergic reactions happen in school. Teachers and school nurses are not trained or equipped to treat your child’s symptoms without your help. If your student suffers from major food allergies, create a food allergy action plan. Come back tomorrow for simple steps you can take to protect your student from a bad food reaction in school.

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