Letter to classroom parents re: Celiac

[Linda]

Hi Everyone,

School starts tomorrow and I've just realized I can't find the sample letter I had seen to send home with other kids. I am sure I saw someplace a sample of a letter that a mom sent home with the other kids saying something like what treats are GF in case they send something for birthdays/valentines, etc. or to please notify me in advance if they will be sending cookies, muffins, etc. so I can have an alternative to send in for Ty.

Any thoughts on how to word such a letter?

I should have organized this sooner.
_________________
Mom of Ty (he's eight) who was diagnosed by bloodwork June 2005, biopsy August 11, 2005, notified on & started GF August 18, 2005

[gluten-free-mike]

Linda,

Are you a teacher sending a letter to other students' parents, or are you the mother of a child in a classroom that wants to get the word out to the other parents?

I would assume the school nurse or such would have a standard letter regarding food allergy considerations these days, especially with all the peanut allergies, celiac, and many more. Perhaps just ask them if they have one. If not, the toughest thing about informing others of what to avoid when Celiacs are in the target food-consumption group is educating them on what Celiac is -- since, many I have run into find it hard to even understand that it is a Wheat allergy (I start there since most can understand wheat)... but even then, I have people say "oh, no problem, I use white bread and not wheat bread", not understanding that white bread is wheat flour. From there you move on to Rye, Barley, and all the derivatives (like malt flavoring in darn near everything, and soy sauce with wheat in it, and on and on).

Good luck. But, the setting is right: school. School is a place for educating, and it just happens you will need to educate others for them to ever understand what is and is not safe for your child.
_________________
Mike
GF Since 2003
Severe weakness for Desserts

[Linda]

Hi Mike,
I'm a parent trying not to have my child feel left out when someone shows up with a bunch of cookies/timbits/cupcakes for birthday. He does have a stash of treats in the teacher's desk, but sometimes it's nice if everyone gets the same thing. The school nurse is there MAYBE once a week. There is no info sent to parents re:allergies, just that the school "discourages" peanuts/peanut containing food.

Here's the letter so far. Note how I mention "including all-purpose flour" so people know flour is made from wheat.
--------------
Dear Team 2C Parents:

My son, Ty, is in your son or daughter’s class. He has been diagnosed with Celiac and is on a restricted diet, and I would like to request that if you are going to be sending treats to class with your child that you please notify me (in advance if possible) so that I may send a treat with him so he doesn’t feel left out.

He cannot eat anything with wheat (including all-purpose flour), rye, oats, barley or malt. This means he can’t have cookies, cupcakes, pretzels, crackers, Rice Krispie squares, Smarties, Twizzlers licorice or anything like that.

He CAN have:
Hershey’s Kisses
snack-size Aero bars
Dare Fruit Gummies
Starburst candy
Jolly Rancher candy
Tootsie pops and Tootsie rolls
Rockets
Classic, Sour Cream & Onion or Wavy Lay’s chips
Hawkin’s Cheezies
Jello, Healthy Choice and Hunt’s pudding & jello snack packs
Dentyne, Trident and Wrigley’s gum.
Sun-Rype Fruit-to-Go and Energy-to-Go
Minute Maid juices
Sun-Rype juices
Five Alive
Pepsi/Coke
Sprite/7-Up
Canada Dry ginger ale
Carnation hot chocolate

Thank you,
Linda S.
-------------------
I didn't want to say celiac "disease" in case a lot of the ESL families might think it's contagious or something. Disease....oh....better move Johnny out of there in case he gets it.
_________________
Mom of Ty (he's eight) who was diagnosed by bloodwork June 2005, biopsy August 11, 2005, notified on & started GF August 18, 2005

[gluten-free-mike]

Linda,

I like the idea of listing *specific* things he can have, vs. things he can not. That should make life easier on everyone. Good job.

I got to the part where you said that "disease" may make people worry about contagiousness or such... and laughed openly, both because it was funny (to those of us who know Celiac is NOT contagious), and because yeah, I could see people worrying about it just because of the word "disease".

Let us all know how well the letter is recieved. Thanks
_________________
Mike
GF Since 2003
Severe weakness for Desserts

[ostrich]

I agree, the list is an excellent idea. Gives parents some more ideas for treats.

Just MHO, but you might want to add something about your son gets sick. I'm worried that the teacher/parents won't take this seriously, or they might think you're being picky otherwise. Something like "If Ty ingests even a small amout of gluten he (insert symptoms)."
_________________
Ostrich :>--O==={

I lie below, you float above
In the pretty white ships that I am dreaming of

[Fidissimus]

I think if I were a parent I might be concerned that you were telling me I couldn't let my kid bring his/her food to school on a daily basis. Maybe you could alter the following sentence to something like, " I would like to request that if you are going to be sending treats to class with your child for special occasions like birthdays or other food related holidays that you please notify me..."

Otherwise it sounds great! I like the idea of listing specific foods too so that everyone can be included... except you forgot M&M's!
_________________
Cheers!
Jenn

GF BD: Feb. 2001
Free of wheat, barley, rye, oats, rice, dairy, eggs, almonds, pineapple and brewers yeast.
http://graindamaged.blogspot.com/

[Valerie]

[Linda]

Thanks everyone for your input. I did change the letter to say "bringing treats for a birthday or other special event".

I didn't put in M&M's because the school discourages peanuts/traces of peanuts foods because of anaphylactic allergies.

I also didn't say anything about how Ty gets sick, because he doesn't (on the outside). The teacher is familiar with Celiac, one of her cousins has Celiac and she did some research as well.

The whole thing was a mostly useless effort on my part anyway. The teacher had to run it past the office, and they said we couldn't send it out. The teacher did promise to mention it to parents when they came in for parent/teacher interviews and she kept the list so if she decides to give treats away for some reason, she knows what kind to send out.

Actually, there are TWO GF kids in the class. The second one doesn't have celiac, she has Down Syndrome but her mom put her and her autisitc sister on the diet for fun and she's grown a lot and can focus on her tasks a bit easier, so the list is good for everyone - peanut free/gluten free. Oh...except the teachers a vegetarian and doesn't eat eggs. We'll all have to eat apples from now on.
_________________
Mom of Ty (he's eight) who was diagnosed by bloodwork June 2005, biopsy August 11, 2005, notified on & started GF August 18, 2005

[keefdawn]

my daughter is 6 and in the first grade and she has celiacs I send a letter to the teacher at the begining of the year and lots of snacks she can have I also make up cupcakes and freeze them that way if she wants to have a cupcake like everyone else the teacher just takes one out in the morning. The freezing does not hurt them and they taste the same good luck

[melffr04]

Hey...My name is Melissa and I have a 8 year old daughter who we just found out last month has CD. Our lives have been turned upside down, as I am sure yours was as well! I have two other children that are fine (we think).

The school has not wanted to coperate with us at all! Her teacher says it is too much responsibility for her to keep up with and her friends won't play with her cause she has a DISEASE. Which I know comes from a parent!

I sent letters to the school for the teacher, school nurse, counsler and lunch room staff. Kimberleigh still has days that after she eats she is in pain and not feeling well. Her doctor wanted her to continue home bound school until we could get her symtoms under control, school said NO!

Does anyone have any advise how to deal with these people?
_________________
Thanks for the input!

[ostrich]

Yikes Mel, sorry this is happening! But outta curiosity....if the school is being so difficult, why don't you just homeschool her? The public school has no authority over you last time I checked. I'd simply thumb my nose at them and pull her out. Her health is more important than some stupid administration.
_________________
Ostrich :>--O==={

I lie below, you float above
In the pretty white ships that I am dreaming of

[aklap]

Hi Melissa,

I am sorry to hear that. I think by law, they have to. I would look into a 504 plan for her. We have talked about this before, I'll find the posts. We've got some posters here that have some experience with this (TEC?? any suggestions?).

Here's the threads on 504 Plans
http://www.celiacforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=736


Here' some more info that might be of help:

http://www.justice.gov/crt/ada/childq&a.htm
http://twincitiesrock.org/documents/Title3complaint.pdf

How to create a Health Care Plan for Celiac Disease: http://twincitiesrock.org/documents/HealthCarePlan.pdf
Celiac Disease Handbook for School Professionals: http://twincitiesrock.org/documents/EducatorHandbook.pdf

I found these documents here:
http://twincitiesrock.org/


I found this a the Dallas ROCK site

http://www.dallasrock.org/

Section 504 Information The information contained in this document is presented by Theresa Werner, M.Ed., J.D., Associate Professor, Special Education Outreach Coordinator, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA. She explains the steps to take with the public school system in order to have your child accommodated when it comes to receiving a gluten-free meal in public school. She also has her contact information there if you have questions.
_________________
Al

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

[The Edifying Conscience]

[Kathie]

[Linda]

Melissa - try this link for info Al found for teachers.I'm going to print them for Ty's teacher.

http://www.celiacforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=28586#28586

if the link didn't work it's twincitiesrock.org.
_________________
Mom of Ty (he's eight) who was diagnosed by bloodwork June 2005, biopsy August 11, 2005, notified on & started GF August 18, 2005