Support for Teachers and Tutors

If you've arrived to our lovely blog through a search because you have a pupil at your school/college/university that has IBD or you are a SENCO and would like more information because you've seen an article in some of the Education press recently... Welcome! Thanks for dropping by.

We have lots of information for tutors and teachers, tailored to the age range you teach:

• Students and IBD: a guide for universities and colleges (PDF)
  Are you a member of staff at a university or college? Find out more about IBD and how you may be able to help students with this condition achieve their full potential. If you are a student you may find it useful to give this information to your tutor or other university staff.

• Children and Young People with IBD: a guide for schools (PDF) This information sheet includes a brief guide to IBD and discusses how teachers and other school staff can best provide the sort of support some children and young people with IBD may need from their school. If you are a young person at school you may find it helpful to make sure your teachers have a copy of this information.

Guest Writer Harvey - Telling School

Me, Myself and My Immune System: A brief timeline of my love affair with Crohn’s Disease.

Harvey Hancock

Part TWO

Two days later. I am ready to go home from a two-week hospital stay where I learned I had Crohn's Disease, aged 10! I vow never to watch Scooby Doo as long as I live. I say thank you to the nurses who shoved thermometers in my mouth and pricked me with needles, give a hug to the special nurse called Sian who is very pretty and very friendly (I never see her again) and wobble my way back to the car. Two weeks in a hospital has taken its toll and I look forward to sleeping in my own bed, but things don’t go to plan. I stay feverish, with flannels all over my head to cool me down. I sleep fitfully and wake up shaking. I reluctantly agree to spend three more nights in the hospital.

Fast forward a month. I am on huge doses of medication and my face is swollen up from the steroids. I am at home and enjoying the last week of the summer the way any 10yr-old should – running back and forth from living room to toilet, sleeping with 3 fans in his room and not spending any time with friends(!). My only visitor is a teacher from school.

Mr Wallace, who is going to be my teacher for yr.6 comes along and asks me if I want to share the details of my diagnosis with the rest of the class when school starts in September. Kids can be cruel and I don’t want to regret anything, so I tell him I’ll see how I feel. I joke with Mr Wallace about how I could maybe say to the class that “every Friday evening, I turn into a big green monster” and he genuinely laughs, telling me that that is the exact kind of things that will make the children understand that I’m not to be feared, that I’m still the same Harvey. He leaves and I know that, with him as my teacher, I will be safe from the bullies.

 

Fast forward to the first day of school, and the moment of truth arrives. My friends have all asked about my fat face but I have declined to answer their queries. Whilst Sarah H talks about how she spent her summer dancing, I do some maths and work out that my 6 week summer holiday was split into 3 perfect parts – my holiday to Portugal, which was a write-off, my two weeks in hospital, which were a write-off, and my final two weeks of my holiday, also a write-off. As I look around the room, taking in the posters and noticeboards, the drawers to put our work in, and the bookcase full of new dictionaries, I realise that I am so, so relieved to be back around the children with whom I have grown up. Mr Wallace asks: “So, does anybody else want to share what they did with the summer holidays?”

I’m a confident child and, if I may say so, a pretty popular figure in the class, so I have no problems with public speaking. However, as I find my hand raising itself, almost automatically, I consider my ability to sail the impending storm if I do indeed choose to share my summertime misadventure. Mr Wallace doesn’t bat an eye-lid when he sees my hand in the air, a tiny fist with one finger pointing towards the sky, amongst 35 sets of hands that remain firmly in laps or fiddling with hair. “Harvey? How did you spend your summer?”

Many things happen at once. My hand falls into my lap. I question what I want to actually say. I actually put my hand up to say I went to Portugal, and to hide my new identity until the time was right. I see the faces of all the children who were bored stiff by Sarah’s ballroom dancing competition in the summer break. I look at Mr Wallace, willing me to do only that which leaves me feeling safe, understood and happy. In a moment of madness and sensing the silence in the room I say “I spent two weeks in hospital”.

Hair-fiddling stops and all eyes stare at me. Finally, an interesting story! Mr Wallace looks at me thoughtfully and, I will never forget this, he raises his eye-brows a bit and gives me a subtle, questioning nod. I reply in kind. He smiles. “Would you like to tell us why you were in hospital, Harvey, or would you like me to explain for you?”

I get stage fright and ask Mr Wallace to do it for me. I keep my head down, ashamed to be the centre of attention in such extraordinary fashion, so I don’t know what the other children are doing. But I listen. I listen hard, and Mr Wallace does a stellar job, explaining to everyone how I became very ill over summer but am now okay. He emphasises that I am not contagious or to be treated any differently to how I was before the summer. He asks if there are any questions. Simon V puts his hand up, sheepish but still noticeable. I dread his question. Mr Wallace suddenly becomes one of the greatest men I shall ever know by simply ignoring Simon’s hand and moving on. I breathe a sigh of relief and get on with the rest of my day. Nobody avoids me, but nobody asks me any questions; a perfect first day back.

Coming up in Part 3 - dealing with the difficult kids...

Schools Need to Download THIS!

Full Information Sheet Here <= this, download this! Now! Do it!

A summary of how staff can help support children with IBD



What is IBD?



The two most common forms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) are Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease. These are life-long chronic conditions which can cause severe stomach pain, an urgent need to use the toilet, diarrhoea, extreme tiredness, nausea and loss of appetite. IBD can also delay growth and cause extreme thinness. Some children and young people with IBD also have joint pains, eye problems and mouth ulcers.

Symptoms fluctuate and periods of remission can be followed by acute ‘flare ups’. Treatment for IBD often includes courses of drugs which can cause excessive weight gain, a moon-face, spottiness and mood swings. Some children are treated by being put on exclusive liquid diets, and may have a feeding tube. IBD can be very embarrassing to a child or young personand very painful, both physically and psychologically.



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​Actions that can help:



• Let the child/young person leave and return to the classroom discreetly and without having to get permission whenever they need the toilet. If other toilets are locked or some distance away, let them use a staff toilet.
• Appreciate that they may arrive late at school or for lessons because of an urgent need to use a toilet or because joint pains have slowed them down.
• Be aware that a child/young person with IBD may need to take medication during school hours and/or need extra meal breaks.
• Respect their embarrassment about their condition and their need for privacy; they should decide how much other pupils are told.
• Try to be alert for bullying from others.
• Let them judge for themselves how much sport/PE or after-school activities they can join in - but don’t stop them trying whatever they want to try.
• Don’t exclude pupils with IBD from school trips: talk to them about their needs and try and arrange to meet these, eg with an aisle seat at the theatre or cinema and using a coach with a toilet.
• If a child/young person with IBD is unwell at school, don’t rush to send them home – sometimes they may be able to continue after a rest.
  
• If they have to have time off, either at home or in hospital, encourage the class to keep in touch, for example with cards and phone calls or by email.
• Do not automatically wait for them to return to school before offering schoolwork. They may be able to do some work at home and would like to keep up with others in their class. For example, provide notes on lessons and arrange for work to be set by email.
• Arrange a liaison teacher for the child/young person, their parents and other teachers to talk to.
• Keep in touch with parents about their child’s ongoing or changing needs. If possible, an individual health care plan should be drawn up for each child/young person, which can be passed on as they move up the school.

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More Information:

If further information would be helpful, contact the Crohn's and Colitis UK Information Line: 0845 130 2233, open Monday to Friday 10am-1pm. There is an answerphone service outside these hours, or you may email
info@crohnsandcolitis.org.uk.

This and all our other information sheets can be downloaded from: www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk