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I have been reading all the 'starting school' posts with interest. My son was diagnosed at 20 months old and will be turning 17 years old in a month. He is very sensitive to any gluten ingestion. We know because he was given a medication that had been gluten free and was relayed to us by the drug company that it was still gluten free. We received a follow up call (too late) from the drug company telling us not to take the medication because the formula had changed and their information had not been updated properly.
As for school:
His teachers, school nurses and cafeteria staff have always been most grateful to have as much information as possible about his dietary needs and how they affect his health and ability to learn. He began eating a school lunch in the second grade. Yes, I said a school lunch. And even better yet that school lunch was served in our local public school system in South Carolina. He had to have his Gall Bladder removed in the 5th grade - due to a gall stone that was formed prior to his going gluten free at 20 months old! One of the tests run for this gall stone diagnosis was a biopsy meant to rule out another illness - which it did. Since the biopsy had to be done, his Dr. had the results read for GF Diet compliance and it showed perfect compliance. Yes, perfect compliance - and he was in his 4th year of eating public school cafeteria lunches. His school district sub-contracted the lunchroom services with Sodexo, and they were great.
This year he was accepted as a student at the SC Governor's School for Science and Mathematics. It is a SC public high school for Junior and Seniors. It is also a residential high school. He now eats 3 meals a day and all snacks away from home. At 16 he, of course, does know what he can and cannot eat, but he cannot cook anything for himself. It is after all a public high school. No hot plates, no candles or warmers, no electric appliances for heating or cooking are allowed in the dorms. His years of helping me to help the cafeteria staffs at his previous elementary, middle and high schools prepare safe and healthy GF meals for him have paid off. Once again we went to his new school cafeteria chef this summer and helped him understand how this overwhelming diet could easily be provided on a daily basis with just a little pre-preparation.
With the help of the school nurse, we had a mini-seminar with the cafeteria staff - since he's there 24/7 there are a lot of people involved in preparing his food - and helped them to understand the consequences of even the slightest slip. Once they were sufficiently "scared" we also assured them that it was 'do-able' and even easy if they cared enough to be professional in their duties and cared enough to ensure that my son would receive a diet that would allow him to excel in school each day, just as the other students that they fed. The cafeteria staff was all very interested in learning about how a slip would affect him and asked a lot of questions about cross-contamination and ways it could be controlled. He hasn't has a gluten slip yet. His current school cafeteria is run by Aramark. I recently read an article by a celiac college student saying that her college provided GF meals to several students and that they were run by Aramark.
So, the best to all of you who are just beginning to deal with this school food issue. And, I hope you choose to educate as many people as possible, because education is power. Maybe when your child goes off to college you will be able to list - requires gluten free diet - and then sit back and relax, knowing that your child will be fed as easily as mine is being fed, but without having to educate and instruct everyone first.
Good luck starting school!
Peggy
in South Carolina
* If you are interested in any information about this process, lessons learned, and tools used to aid the cafeteria staffs just email me.*
* General celiac discussions should be sent to CeliacLISTSERV.ICORS.ORG *
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