A Whitehorse mother said she was relieved that her five-year-old son, who has type 1 diabetes, would be provided with an educational assistant to support his health needs at school.
But Jamie Traynor is still calling on the Yukon Education Department to adopt policies to ensure all children with the disease receive the support they need without parental support.
“I’m just taking it day by day and counting my lucky stars that I was able to have this… [but] This shouldn’t be a fight that families have to have,” Trainor said in an interview this month.
The trainer’s daughter, Sadie Ray, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a baby and has to have her blood sugar and insulin levels carefully monitored and regulated. This involves measuring food to the gram and manually injecting medication. Miscalculations can lead to emergencies and fatalities.
In anticipation of Sadie Ray entering school this year, trainers cited the complexity of the disease and the impossibility of educating staff working with 5-year-olds and other children. , requested that she be assigned a full-time teaching assistant. to manage it ourselves.
The Department of Education initially said that would not be possible, but after “numerous back and forths” over the summer, Trainor confirmed that less than a week before school started, actual educational instruction would take place. He said he received confirmation that it would be done. Sadie Ray’s assistant.
Sadie Ray Traynor, 5, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a toddler and will start kindergarten in Whitehorse in August. Her mother says the Yukon Education Department will not provide her with an educational assistant to manage her health needs.
Sadie Ray Trainor, 5, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as an infant and started school this year. The Department of Education initially gave her a teaching assistant this year to support her health needs, but her mother insists broader policy changes are needed. (Jamie Trainor/Posted)
Trainor said the assistant is “doing a great job” and is “very dedicated” and “very enthusiastic.”
“We are very, very grateful,” Trainor said, adding that he is even more grateful knowing schools are struggling with staffing.
But he added that the back-and-forth situation and uncertainty could have been avoided if the department had a policy of guaranteeing teaching assistants to students with type 1 diabetes. This is what she and others have argued.
“The amount of stress is [my husband] And that’s what I thought until the last moment… It shouldn’t have happened, to be honest,” Trainor said, adding that this change will help everyone who has a child affected by this disease. It added that it would eliminate uncertainty and hardship for families.
Marnie Paradis, president of the Yukon Type 1 Diabetes Support Network, told CBC News that her best guess is that there are about 30 children with the disease in the territory’s schools.
She said her organization has been asking the Department of Education to adopt a teaching assistant policy for nearly seven years, to no avail, despite support from families, educators and other health organizations.
“It’s almost impossible to get [the department] “It’s about getting them interested in what we’re trying to accomplish, and at the end of the day, it’s just about keeping students safe,” she said.
“This is flooring, really.”
No one from the Ministry of Education agreed to an interview. Spokeswoman Sophie Best said in an email that the department is “taking steps forward” to support students with type 1 diabetes, including providing ongoing voluntary training for staff and “considering the role” of teaching assistants. ” he wrote. The department is also recruiting a new type 1 diabetes support case manager who will “work directly with students, families and schools to support student health and academic success,” she said.
“While this initiative represents important progress, we recognize that continued efforts are essential to fully support the needs of students with type 1 diabetes in school and school-related activities.” the professor writes.
Professor Best did not directly respond to a question about whether the ministry was considering developing a policy to guarantee teaching assistants for students with type 1 diabetes.
However, Trainor and Paradis say that until such policies are established, families will continue to suffer from uncertainty about whether children with type 1 diabetes will receive the support they need at school, and individual advocacy. He said that he had to rely on
Trainor said there is no promise that Sadie Ray will hire an educational assistant next year or in the next few years.
“Really, this is what it is. I don’t want my daughter to spend her summer worrying if she’s going to get support, but I don’t know if that’s going to happen,” she said.
“We are really grateful for this year and we just hope that in May we will be able to talk to the schools and come up with a plan and hopefully the Department of Education will also support us.” [that]. ”
