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My celiac son has been attending special needs pre-school for speech therapy
for 2 years and is now "graduating" to kindergarten.  He is the right age to
start kindergarten although his speech still needs some extra work.

When he started school I arranged a meeting with the teachers and aides and
brought a pamphlet from the Canadian Celiac Association dedicated directly
towards teachers with celiac children in their class.  I also brought in
another handbook detailing celiac disease.  The teacher was very thorough
and read the books and also photocopied portions to be kept in Cody's file.
Each month they have a calendar for what the snack will be each day.  I try
to duplicate the regular snack with Cody's GF food, ie cheese and crackers,
I send in GF for Cody.  His look a little different than the rest of the
kids but at least he is having the same snack.

They also let me stash, cookies, cupcakes, etc in the staff-room freezer for
Cody so that on special days they would just get a cupcake, defrost in the
microwave and he participates like anyone else.  What I found out near the
end of the year is that when other parents were bringing in a surprise treat
they would stop at Dairy Queen and pick up an ice-cream in a cup (no cone)
and bring that along for Cody.  I found that the school, teachers and
parents included, were very thoughtful and careful when it came to Cody's
diet.  I little forehand education goes a long way.  Even Cody is very
particular about his diet, I forgot his snack one day and they were having
applesauce.  The teacher knew the brand was okay for Cody and she told a
white lie that I had brought it in for the class to enjoy cause Cody wasn't
going to eat.  Everyone thought this was extra special applesauce and ate it
all up.  I had left a shopping guide for the teachers in case the situation
ever happened.  Thankfully it didn't happen often and he always had
something stashed at school.

He also attends daycare, where I provide all his food for him.  The will
supplement his diet with the fresh fruit and veggies.  They make their
chicken "noodle" soup with rice instead of noodles so that Cody can eat with
them.  The also make stir fry and rice and use Cody's soy sauce for
seasoning it.  If they have any question, ie.  can Cody have jell-o for
snack, they will phone me at work.  They know not to phone when it is
purchased from the bulk bins.

Anyway the bottom line is the old Girl Guides motto, "Be prepared".  If you
follow this line, your child will not really feel all the different from
other children.  I found that Cody has taken on a lot of his own supervision
when it comes to his diet just because we involve him a lot in the food
choices we make and he does a wonderful job of avoiding foods when he is out
in public.

Cody has not had an accident at school or daycare in the 3 years he has been
on the diet.   And we thank our lucky stars that we have had such
co-operative people caring for Cody.

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Karen Bulmer
St. Albert, AB, Canada