Arden's past and current 504 plans are available to Download

Back to school...

Well the years are flying by and Arden's 504 plan is constantly morphing. Please feel free to read, download, use these documents as your own. You may need to make changes so the document reflect your child's specific needs. Arden's 504 was originally written by me in 2006 though I relied heavily on the JDRF and ADA templates of the day. Arden's 504 has been slightly modified each year since kindergarten, just like Arden it continually changes and grows. I hope that it helps you in creating your own. I'm digging up 504's from other grades and will be updating this page with new documents as I am able.

The plans have been redacted in the spots where you will need to fill in your information. Look for text that looks like this <TEXT>.

Good luck!

Documents for download...

Arden's Kindergarten 504 for download - Word, Pages

Arden's Sixth Grade 504 for download - Word, Pages

Arden's Seventh and Eight Grade 504 for download - Word, Pages

Go deeper...

While you are thinking about diabetes and education I would like to urge you to listen to a few episodes of the Juicebox Podcast that focus on a student's time at school.

Texting Diabetes: All about how we use something as simple as text messaging to manage Arden's type 1 diabetes while she is at school or anytime that she is out of the house. This simple process has led to lower a A1c, better grades, an increase in self-confidence and much more. 

Talking 504 Plans with D-Mom Jill: Getting a 504 plan is easier than you think and it's super important!

Talking To School Administrators That Don't Get Type 1 Diabetes

Going to College with T1D: College freshman Elias was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes before his senior year in high school.

Teach Our Children Well: Is what you say about type 1 diabetes to your teachers and administrators always what they hear and do your expectations and needs match what they understand and are able to deliver?

Advocating at School: This is taking advocating for children with type 1 diabetes to a new level.

College with Type 1 on Day One: Amanda has only been at college for a few days and she's on the podcast to tell us about her initial experience. 

Teacher of the Year: Denny is a good man and a great teacher. This episode is all about the difference that one dedicated teacher can make in a child's life with type 1 diabetes.

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Arden's 2015 504 Plan is Available to Download

Back to school...

This is Arden's 2015 504 plan for sixth grade. Please feel free to read, download, use it as your own or make changes so it reflects your child's needs. Written by me in 2006 this document has been modified each year since kindergarten and continues to grow and change. I hope that it helps you in creating your own, I relied heavily on the JDRF and ADA templates that were available online back in 2006 as I created Arden's.

I'm pretty excited that we were able to get Arden's iPhone listed as a medical device this year! #DexcomShare

The text has been redacted in spots, you will need to fill in your information in those places. Look for text that looks like this <TEXT> and one formatting instruction encompassed by asterisks.

Good luck!

Arden's 2015 sixth grade 504 plan for download

While you are in the mindset to think about diabetes and education, I would like to urge you to listen to episode 4 of my podcast that talks about how we manage Arden's type 1 diabetes while she is at school. 

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Arden's 504 Plan for Download

504 Plan

Over the past few months I've received numerous requests for Arden's current 504 plan, I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to get it to you! This plan has been used at the fourth and fifth grade levels and I hope that it serves as a guide for you when you are crafting/creating/editing your child's 504. 

Please remember that a good 504 plan is no replacement for a great relationship with your school and that sometimes those relationships take a lot of time to cultivate. I hope you can take a moment to read a past blog post about that subject.

Episode 65 of the Juicebox Podcast is all about 504 plans... you can listen here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Spotify - Amazon Alexa- google play/android - iheart radio -  or their favorite podcast app.

The Word file is available here. Arden's name and all personal information has been removed. Please feel free to use this document in anyway that will benefit your child. Please also remember that nothing that you read on Arden's Day is to be considered advice, my disclaimer says more. Decisions should always be made with he help of a physician.

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Language processing is impaired during moderate hypoglycemia

Effects of Acute Hypoglycemia on Working Memory and Language Processing...

New research sponsored by the ADA indicates that hypoglycemia causes significant deterioration in reading span and the accuracy of subject-verb agreement. Below is the research abstract from the study as well a link to the origin page. Click here to see the entire study in PDF form.

from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25758768

Effects of Acute Hypoglycemia on Working Memory and Language Processing in Adults With and Without Type 1 Diabetes.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of hypoglycemia on language processing in adults with and without type 1 diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Forty adults were studied (20 with type 1 diabetes and 20 healthy volunteers) using a hyperinsulinemic glucose clamp to lower blood glucose to 2.5 mmol/L (45 mg/dL) (hypoglycemia) for 60 min, or to maintain blood glucose at 4.5 mmol/L (81 mg/dL) (euglycemia), on separate occasions. Language tests were applied to assess the effects of hypoglycemia on the relationship between working memory and language (reading span), grammatical decoding (self-paced reading), and grammatical encoding (subject-verb agreement).

RESULTS: Hypoglycemia caused a significant deterioration in reading span (P < 0.001; η2 = 0.37; Cohen d = 0.65) and a fall in correct responses (P = 0.005; η2 = 0.19; Cohen d = 0.41). On the self-paced reading test, the reading time for the first sentence fragment increased during hypoglycemia (P = 0.039; η2 = 0.11; Cohen d = 0.25). For the reading of the next fragment, hypoglycemia affected the healthy volunteer group more than the adults with type 1 diabetes (P = 0.03; η2 = 0.12; Cohen d = 0.25). However, hypoglycemia did not significantly affect the number of errors in sentence comprehension or the time taken to answer questions. Hypoglycemia caused a deterioration of subject-verb agreement (correct responses: P = 0.011; η2 = 0.159; Cohen d = 0.31).

CONCLUSIONS: Hypoglycemia caused a significant deterioration in reading span and in the accuracy of subject-verb agreement, both of which are practical aspects of language involved in its everyday use. Language processing is therefore impaired during moderate hypoglycemia.

© 2015 by the American Diabetes Association. Readers may use this article as long as the work is properly cited, the use is educational and not for profit, and the work is not altered.

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Helping Children with Diabetes Gain Independence

This is the finale of the series. Links to previous posts are below, if you'd like to read it in order.

I was asked recently on my blog if I had any tips for a family that was considering Arden’s school day diabetes management plan. Anything that I hadn’t mentioned – perhaps a tip that would make the transition smoother. I responded in part by saying, “I didn’t know what I was doing when I started either.” I think that’s the most powerful message of support I could offer anyone. None of us know what to expect when we forge our own way with type 1 diabetes. All we have is the knowledge that we’ve been able to accumulate, but I think that’s a lot.

Consider how little you knew on the day that your child was diagnosed and remember how your doctors only began to scratch the surface when they explained diabetes care. Now, you probably have more diabetes knowledge than three doctors combined. I know that I am the foremost expert on my daughter’s physiology. I can, with great accuracy, predict how her body will react to insulin, exercise, stress and all of the factors that we pay attention to. I didn’t learn these things in school or at a doctor’s office, I learned them by experiencing diabetes – and that’s how our kids are going to learn.*

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I want to caution you to not get too comfortable and to always keep a watchful eye as our children take over more and more control of their day-to-day diabetes health considerations. Because even though they are some of the most courageous and levelheaded kids a person will ever meet, they are still kids. I think they want and need to know that we are here. “We” doesn’t have to mean just parents. If you end up trying Arden’s plan in school, please remind the teacher that your child’s diabetes independence doesn’t mean that they don’t need an adult to be concerned and watchful at times. My friend’s new book reminded me recently that sometimes the most responsible children tend to get forgotten and that space can lead to apathy for them. Sometimes the trust is easy to take advantage of, especially if the child is experiencing diabetes burnout. It can happen to anyone and it will, so always remember to be a presence during those formable years.

It’s my sincere wish that this series has helped you to feel powerful and more in control. I hope that something I’ve shared has given you a new perspective and made you feel like the idea of anything being possible isn’t just something you read on an Internet meme. I also want to thank you, because I learned something from writing these pieces. I learned that I was getting too complacent and that we should be taking what we’ve learned from the last year of managing Arden’s diabetes from school and make something new happen.

I’m very excited to share that by the time you read this Arden will have gone to a concert with her best friend and her friend’s mother, without me or my wife in attendance. I’m going to take the things that I’ve learned from Arden’s diabetes management at school and use them to let go a little more. I’m going to use them to give Arden more freedom, so that diabetes can be a smaller part of her life. It may take a lot of self-control not to drive up the interstate behind our friend’s car and sit in the parking lot of the stadium, but I’m going to use the same courage I felt in an e-mail one of you sent me recently. If you can read about what I do and find the strength to try… so can I.

Thank you so much for reading!

My best,
Scott

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READ THE SERIES

part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
Currently reading

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