anyone send a letter to classmates parents?

[emst]

Anyone send a letter to classmates parents?

My son's teacher is so helpful and really on board but so frustrated with other parents who do not take their kids for strep tests when they have a sore throat. She asked if I could write a letter imploring their help to help my son. Anyone do this? Anyone have a letter they could share with me?

Many, many thanks!

[Stephanie2]

When my son's school found out that he had pandas, the guidance counselor went right to the principal and asked if they could send a letter home for his classmates. Basically it said that if your child is ever diagnosed with strep, please inform the school nurse so that I, the parent, could decide if I need to keep him home or not. It stated that the information they give the school nurse will be confidential. It stated that he has a "severe reaction" to strep. That's about it. I don't have it on file to forward to you. The principal signed it.

 

I was really surprised about how serious they were taking this!

 

Hope that helps.

[thereishope]

SF Mom once posted an amazing letter on here and now I can't find it. I'll try to message her and ask if she still has it.

[emst]

SF Mom once posted an amazing letter on here and now I can't find it. I'll try to message her and ask if she still has it.

 

 

Wow, thanks!

[laure]

Our school nurse sent the letter home to all parents in the grade, stating that there is a child in the grade with a serious health condition exacerbated by any exposure to strep, and if your child has strep or a similar infection, please inform the school nurse, and also keep your child home for 2 full days. It was very well-written. The school nurse was fantastic when we met with her prior to the school year, even gave me a hug. I suggest showing teachers/nurses saving sammy video. It explains a lot without words.

[smartyjones]

i am sorry to add negativity to this post. . . i just want you to realize that if/when you do something like that. . . you open the door to many people to be a part of your world. i know you are asking for help in identifying strep. . . but you are also opening the door for other parents to then ask questions and have discussions with the teacher and each other about your child that may or may not be good and/or helpful.

 

i wrote something to friends of mine that i had previously for whatever reason discussed pandas with in my son's class asking for their help on input on what they had observed about his behavior either themselves or what their children had told them. it turned bad when one of them discussed it with the teacher and she took on a different take that i was undermining or not trusting her. i was stunned one of them discussed it with her. i won't be that naive again. there wasn't anything bad in it but it took a turn i hadn't anticipated.

 

granted -- you are talking about a different situation -- but you are involving many people, some of whom you may not really know -- i just want you to think about that.

 

you may want to write a letter that can then be sent by the teacher or school personnel that refers to "a child" in the class and not specifically your child.

[emst]

When my son's school found out that he had pandas, the guidance counselor went right to the principal and asked if they could send a letter home for his classmates. Basically it said that if your child is ever diagnosed with strep, please inform the school nurse so that I, the parent, could decide if I need to keep him home or not. It stated that the information they give the school nurse will be confidential. It stated that he has a "severe reaction" to strep. That's about it. I don't have it on file to forward to you. The principal signed it.

 

I was really surprised about how serious they were taking this!

 

Hope that helps.

 

 

Good ideas, thank you!

[PhillyPA]

The school principal at my son's Catholic School sent home a letter to all the first grade parents. It stated that a child in the class room has an auto-immune disorder associated with strep. It said that this child may not get any symptoms of strep so that it is very important that all strep cases are reported to the office so this child can go to his pediatrician and get testing. She also stated that this condition is absolutely not contagious.

 

It has worked out wonderfully. The office has called me with every case of strep (5 so far this year). My son, who is in remission, is on 1000mg of augmenting per day and has had no problems.

 

I am sure that some of the parents even threw in some prayers...that's what is so great about Catholic school.

 

My other son who has PANDAS go to public school. He became so disabled with pandas that he needs the special education of public school. The principal at that school is equally as fantastic. She actually showed a video of my son to her graduate school class to teach them about pandas. She is showing my son's video to the entire school at teachers in-service day to educate them all about pandas.

 

I am very lucky.

[philamom]

i am sorry to add negativity to this post. . . i just want you to realize that if/when you do something like that. . . you open the door to many people to be a part of your world. i know you are asking for help in identifying strep. . . but you are also opening the door for other parents to then ask questions and have discussions with the teacher and each other about your child that may or may not be good and/or helpful.

 

i wrote something to friends of mine that i had previously for whatever reason discussed pandas with in my son's class asking for their help on input on what they had observed about his behavior either themselves or what their children had told them. it turned bad when one of them discussed it with the teacher and she took on a different take that i was undermining or not trusting her. i was stunned one of them discussed it with her. i won't be that naive again. there wasn't anything bad in it but it took a turn i hadn't anticipated.

 

granted -- you are talking about a different situation -- but you are involving many people, some of whom you may not really know -- i just want you to think about that.

 

you may want to write a letter that can then be sent by the teacher or school personnel that refers to "a child" in the class and not specifically your child.

I agree with smartyjones. After I sent the letter out, I noticed parents were telling their children to inform my daughter when they were out with strep. One child stated she was afraid to come back to school because she didn't want to mess her up. My daughter was so upset with me. Here is our letter:

 

There is a child in __ grade with a health issue that requires the need to know when there is possible exposure to strep infection. If your child is diagnosed with strep, could you please contact me so that I can let this child's parent know of the possible exposure. Thank you for your assistance with this matter.

Sincerely,

nurse signature

 

(or, you could have the letter sent by the teacher (...a child in this class)--so the teacher is notified instead of the nurse. I did this last year, and found more people willing to send an email to the teacher as opposed to contacting the school nurse. But then you may have parents asking around.

[emst]

i am sorry to add negativity to this post. . . i just want you to realize that if/when you do something like that. . . you open the door to many people to be a part of your world. i know you are asking for help in identifying strep. . . but you are also opening the door for other parents to then ask questions and have discussions with the teacher and each other about your child that may or may not be good and/or helpful.

 

i wrote something to friends of mine that i had previously for whatever reason discussed pandas with in my son's class asking for their help on input on what they had observed about his behavior either themselves or what their children had told them. it turned bad when one of them discussed it with the teacher and she took on a different take that i was undermining or not trusting her. i was stunned one of them discussed it with her. i won't be that naive again. there wasn't anything bad in it but it took a turn i hadn't anticipated.

 

granted -- you are talking about a different situation -- but you are involving many people, some of whom you may not really know -- i just want you to think about that.

 

you may want to write a letter that can then be sent by the teacher or school personnel that refers to "a child" in the class and not specifically your child.

 

No worries about sharing the potential downside of writing such a letter. You are kind and generous to share your experience with me and the group.

I have 2 kids w PANDAS in 2 different schools.

My instincts tell me that this kind of letter would never fly in my daughter's school. Instead we've met 1:1 with her teachers w. the nurse and principal and asked them to actively enforce the school's sick/home policy by phoning parents and sending sick kids home until they produce strep test note from a doctor. The nurse was thrilled to have a me come and prompt it because especially as the kids get in to later elementary years the parents don't report strep to her, they just send them to school sick or never have them checked out in the first place. How much did I know about Strep before we met PANDAS. Very little.

So strep reporting is up in that school but only because of the newly revived practice of sending the kids home.

My son is an an 8:1:2 program and he is not in our home district so the dynamic is very different, his social world outside of school is closer to home.

The teacher so supportive, for the sake of the kids she teaches, because it gives her leverage to get the parents to send the kids for a test.

I guess I should hope for the best but brace myself for a little back biting.

Thank you for your reply.

[emst]

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=142933665738910

 

Hey -- Just found this letter!

[dcmom]

I sent an informal email to all of the parents in dd's class last year. I just gave them a general idea that julia has an autoimmune disorder called pandas, that was triggered by strep. I said that she is doing great, and on antibiotics that should prevent her from getting strep, but, that she does have an "allergic- like" reaction when she is around strep, and it makes life easier for me to track her health issues if I know strep is going around.

 

I mentioned the antibiotics- and made myself sound very nonchalant- as I didn't want anyone to feel responsible for her health. I didn't detail pandas, but offered to share more information if anyone had questions.

 

This basically started an email loop, where parents ended up hitting reply all when their child had strep. When all parents in the class saw someone had strep, it pushed others whose kids were just "tired" to get checked. There was a lot of strep last year- and the parents were GREAT about it!

[Stephanie2]

i am sorry to add negativity to this post. . . i just want you to realize that if/when you do something like that. . . you open the door to many people to be a part of your world. i know you are asking for help in identifying strep. . . but you are also opening the door for other parents to then ask questions and have discussions with the teacher and each other about your child that may or may not be good and/or helpful.

 

i wrote something to friends of mine that i had previously for whatever reason discussed pandas with in my son's class asking for their help on input on what they had observed about his behavior either themselves or what their children had told them. it turned bad when one of them discussed it with the teacher and she took on a different take that i was undermining or not trusting her. i was stunned one of them discussed it with her. i won't be that naive again. there wasn't anything bad in it but it took a turn i hadn't anticipated.

 

granted -- you are talking about a different situation -- but you are involving many people, some of whom you may not really know -- i just want you to think about that.

 

you may want to write a letter that can then be sent by the teacher or school personnel that refers to "a child" in the class and not specifically your child.

 

No worries about sharing the potential downside of writing such a letter. You are kind and generous to share your experience with me and the group.

I have 2 kids w PANDAS in 2 different schools.

My instincts tell me that this kind of letter would never fly in my daughter's school. Instead we've met 1:1 with her teachers w. the nurse and principal and asked them to actively enforce the school's sick/home policy by phoning parents and sending sick kids home until they produce strep test note from a doctor. The nurse was thrilled to have a me come and prompt it because especially as the kids get in to later elementary years the parents don't report strep to her, they just send them to school sick or never have them checked out in the first place. How much did I know about Strep before we met PANDAS. Very little.

So strep reporting is up in that school but only because of the newly revived practice of sending the kids home.

My son is an an 8:1:2 program and he is not in our home district so the dynamic is very different, his social world outside of school is closer to home.

The teacher so supportive, for the sake of the kids she teaches, because it gives her leverage to get the parents to send the kids for a test.

I guess I should hope for the best but brace myself for a little back biting.

Thank you for your reply.

 

You do not have to state in the letter who the "child" is who reacts severly to strep, or HOW the child reacts (doesn't have to state that a child in the class has pandas).

[airial95]

My son's day care has a standing policy about notification of anything contagious in the classroom and then they notify the parents in that class accordingly. However, even the best laid plans don't work if the parents aren't cooperative.

 

Since it's so critical for us to know when he is exposed, we gave the day care permission to notify the parents in our son's class about his condition. They kept it anonymous, and didn't mention what his reaction was. They just stated that there was a child in the class with an autoimmune condition that makes him suceptible (sp?) to strep in particular, they reminded the parents of their already standing policy, and they also asked to be notified even if their child was exhibiting any signs of strep (sore throat, etc...) even if they were not otherwise sick. They reassured the parents in the notification that no childs identieis or medical conditions would be discussed other than to notify our family of possible expsosure so appropriate steps could be taken.

 

At our request, they also notified parents in my daughters room too, eventhough she doesn't have PANDAS - if she's exposed, so is he!

 

All of the families in my sons class have responded very well. Some have asked the director questions, which she politely declined to give details (siting privacy concerns) but she always passed along to me who was asking so if I chose I could have a discussion with them myself. I have had those discussions with some of the parents, and it has gone very well. A few of them even call me personally first when they suspect their child has strep or if they get a positive culture at the doctor's office.

 

I do agree with smarty on one thing - you do have to be careful of who you're willing to discuss this with and how it is handled. There are a few parents who I would probably not wish to discuss this in detail with. While I'm a big proponent of education, and I'll discuss my son's situation openly, there are some parents who will jump off the deep end with not wanting their kid around yours because they don't want their kid to "catch" PANDAS, or they think your child is dangerous. (True story - my son is a biter when he's in exacerbation. The school never identifies which child bites - privacy - but the parent of the child he bit pitched a fit and wanted to see his immunization records to make sure his shots were all up to date - as if he was some sort of pitbull who'd give her kid rabies or something. I wouldn't discuss his situation with a parent like that.)

 

I think notification is fine, but try to ensure anonimity and keep the reasons short and simple.

[pandasstl]

My son's day care has a standing policy about notification of anything contagious in the classroom and then they notify the parents in that class accordingly. However, even the best laid plans don't work if the parents aren't cooperative.

 

Since it's so critical for us to know when he is exposed, we gave the day care permission to notify the parents in our son's class about his condition. They kept it anonymous, and didn't mention what his reaction was. They just stated that there was a child in the class with an autoimmune condition that makes him suceptible (sp?) to strep in particular, they reminded the parents of their already standing policy, and they also asked to be notified even if their child was exhibiting any signs of strep (sore throat, etc...) even if they were not otherwise sick. They reassured the parents in the notification that no childs identieis or medical conditions would be discussed other than to notify our family of possible expsosure so appropriate steps could be taken.

 

At our request, they also notified parents in my daughters room too, eventhough she doesn't have PANDAS - if she's exposed, so is he!

 

All of the families in my sons class have responded very well. Some have asked the director questions, which she politely declined to give details (siting privacy concerns) but she always passed along to me who was asking so if I chose I could have a discussion with them myself. I have had those discussions with some of the parents, and it has gone very well. A few of them even call me personally first when they suspect their child has strep or if they get a positive culture at the doctor's office.

 

I do agree with smarty on one thing - you do have to be careful of who you're willing to discuss this with and how it is handled. There are a few parents who I would probably not wish to discuss this in detail with. While I'm a big proponent of education, and I'll discuss my son's situation openly, there are some parents who will jump off the deep end with not wanting their kid around yours because they don't want their kid to "catch" PANDAS, or they think your child is dangerous. (True story - my son is a biter when he's in exacerbation. The school never identifies which child bites - privacy - but the parent of the child he bit pitched a fit and wanted to see his immunization records to make sure his shots were all up to date - as if he was some sort of pitbull who'd give her kid rabies or something. I wouldn't discuss his situation with a parent like that.)

 

I think notification is fine, but try to ensure anonimity and keep the reasons short and simple.