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Administration of Diastat in public school
Sun, 01/02/2005 - 00:06My family lives in Santa Clara County, Ca. and our 5 year old son needs Diastat given to him immediately if he has a seizure. We've been told by our School District only an RN can give it. The problem is we only have an RN on site approximately 4 hours per week. We believe our son is entitled to FAPE in the least restrictive environment. Any suggestions on how to fight this?? What laws support our argument that this is a "related service" Thank you!
Comments
RE: RE: Administration of Diastat in public school
Submitted by RMom on Fri, 2004-12-31 - 13:22
Dear SSSMom,
Thanks for the reply. I know exactly what you mean about keeping my cool with school personnel, lots of deep breaths! We are very willing to have a "staff member" trained and able to administer the diastat rectally ( afterall my husband and I have done it and we are not medical personnel) the problem we're facing is the school district has taken the position only an R.N. can administer the Diastat. We know this is not an educational issue per say, but it does fall under related services which school districts must provide. So, looking for guidance on steps to take to ensure our son can return to school in the near future. We would prefer not to hire an advocate but maybe that's what we need to do. Thanks again and good luck to you!
RMom
Dear SSSMom,
Thanks for the reply. I know exactly what you mean about keeping my cool with school personnel, lots of deep breaths! We are very willing to have a "staff member" trained and able to administer the diastat rectally ( afterall my husband and I have done it and we are not medical personnel) the problem we're facing is the school district has taken the position only an R.N. can administer the Diastat. We know this is not an educational issue per say, but it does fall under related services which school districts must provide. So, looking for guidance on steps to take to ensure our son can return to school in the near future. We would prefer not to hire an advocate but maybe that's what we need to do. Thanks again and good luck to you!
RMom
RE: Administration of Diastat in public school
Submitted by jazzygirl on Sun, 2005-01-02 - 00:06
Our daughter, who is 9, also needs diastat at school in an emergency and the nurse is there only 2 days a week. We have it set up so a paramedic will give the diastat. We do not want school personnel administering this medication nor does her neuro. We feel it changes the relationship between our daughter and the staff there. Our daughter is self conscience having someone seeing that part of her body unless it is a medical person or her parents. We do have a very quick response time for a medic unit so it works for us. However, the school nurse did say that if we needed the medication to be administered immediately and we could not wait for the medic unit the school district would be required to hire a nurse that would be with our daughter at all times. This would include her bus ride to and from school, field trips as well as regular school hours. I'm sure every state law is different. It's worth checking with the school district or state to determine what your child's entitlement is.
Jazzygirl's Mom
Our daughter, who is 9, also needs diastat at school in an emergency and the nurse is there only 2 days a week. We have it set up so a paramedic will give the diastat. We do not want school personnel administering this medication nor does her neuro. We feel it changes the relationship between our daughter and the staff there. Our daughter is self conscience having someone seeing that part of her body unless it is a medical person or her parents. We do have a very quick response time for a medic unit so it works for us. However, the school nurse did say that if we needed the medication to be administered immediately and we could not wait for the medic unit the school district would be required to hire a nurse that would be with our daughter at all times. This would include her bus ride to and from school, field trips as well as regular school hours. I'm sure every state law is different. It's worth checking with the school district or state to determine what your child's entitlement is.
Jazzygirl's Mom
RE: Administration of Diastat in public school
Submitted by SSSMom on Fri, 2004-12-31 - 09:46
Hi Erin,
I understand your concern. My son also requires Diastat (but is not in a public school setting). But I encourage you to be cautious in how you approach this because you don't want to blur the question of educational rights with the right to access medical treatment. The Diastat administration is not a function of your son's education, but even more pressingly a matter of his health.
Should your son require administration of Diastat, of course you want it done in a timely manner. But, for his personal safety and modesty, you probably don't want it done by just anyone or just anywhere. (My son requires rectal administration of Diastat. I don't know if there's any other method.)
If the school doesn't have a nurse, which essentially it seems that his school doesn't, there must be some one -- more likely several people -- who are trained to provide FIRST AID. That person should be available to administer the Diastat -- even if it means there needs to be some kind of "in-service" training to ensure they know what they're doing. I know that many schools don't allow personnel to even administer or students to share aspirin because of anti-drug policies. So, this is a very tricky issue.
This is only an edcuational issue if the school system is refusing to admit your son because he may need a medication that they cannot administer. Otherwise, this is a medical concern. Maybe there are ADA implications, I'm not sure.
How quickly can paramedics respond to the scene at his school? How long would it take to alert them? Is there a chance that you can equip your son with a "life alert" signal so that he can have direct access to medical assistance at the push of a button?
I would suggest that you try to keep you cool when you communicate with school officials. I've had such trouble with these types of administrators when they get defensive. See if you can develop a "team" atmosphere with them in solving this problem. After all, when you can't be there, you want to be sure that they have your son's best interest at heart. You can encourage this by maintaining a positive and supportive relationship with them.
I realize this is a rambling on...but I hope it helps in some respects.
Keep us informed about the situation.
Hi Erin,
I understand your concern. My son also requires Diastat (but is not in a public school setting). But I encourage you to be cautious in how you approach this because you don't want to blur the question of educational rights with the right to access medical treatment. The Diastat administration is not a function of your son's education, but even more pressingly a matter of his health.
Should your son require administration of Diastat, of course you want it done in a timely manner. But, for his personal safety and modesty, you probably don't want it done by just anyone or just anywhere. (My son requires rectal administration of Diastat. I don't know if there's any other method.)
If the school doesn't have a nurse, which essentially it seems that his school doesn't, there must be some one -- more likely several people -- who are trained to provide FIRST AID. That person should be available to administer the Diastat -- even if it means there needs to be some kind of "in-service" training to ensure they know what they're doing. I know that many schools don't allow personnel to even administer or students to share aspirin because of anti-drug policies. So, this is a very tricky issue.
This is only an edcuational issue if the school system is refusing to admit your son because he may need a medication that they cannot administer. Otherwise, this is a medical concern. Maybe there are ADA implications, I'm not sure.
How quickly can paramedics respond to the scene at his school? How long would it take to alert them? Is there a chance that you can equip your son with a "life alert" signal so that he can have direct access to medical assistance at the push of a button?
I would suggest that you try to keep you cool when you communicate with school officials. I've had such trouble with these types of administrators when they get defensive. See if you can develop a "team" atmosphere with them in solving this problem. After all, when you can't be there, you want to be sure that they have your son's best interest at heart. You can encourage this by maintaining a positive and supportive relationship with them.
I realize this is a rambling on...but I hope it helps in some respects.
Keep us informed about the situation.