Managing Asthma at School - advice please

Hi, I'm new here, so please forgive me if there's a thread with this topic on - please direct me there!

My daughter, now 10, was diagnosed with asthma at 2.5. She's not too bad - brown inhaler twice a day means it's not unusual for her blue inhalers to go out of date before they're empty. She has a blue inhaler in her bag at school (the school know she's asthmatic).

We were talking tonight and she complained that she asked her teacher if she could go to her bag (2 flights of stairs down) in the middle of a test today as she started to get wheezy, and the teacher said ""no"". As soon as the class was over she shot downstairs and used her inhaler and got her breath back. I don't think she was too bad, but it's left me worried.

What do you all think I should do? Am I over reacting thinking that no teacher should refuse to let a child go to their inhaler, even during a test? What's the best way to approach this?

Thanks!

4 Replies

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  • Hi, I work in a primary school & asthmatic myself & was through school, you are NOT overreacting the teacher should have let her take her inhaler when ever it is needed. In our school the children keep their inhalers in their classroom easily accessible for the child & a member of staff to get in an emergency. The school have a duty of care to your daughter & by refusing 2 let her take her inhaler until the end of a test clearly isn't what they should do. I would talk to the class teacher to remind them that she must not wait to take it if she needs it, if you get no joy from the teacher speak to the head because the staff might need a refresher on how to deal with a child who is asthmatic and experiencing symptoms.

    Hope this helps

  • Hi

    Personally I would be putting in a formal written complaint. I would be insisting that her inhaler is kept in the classroom and easily accessible. Most schools ask for a reliever inhaler kit, including any spacers a reliever & a spare. I would also suggest that you get an asthma action card for the school, regarding what to do when your daughter requires her inhaler, triggers etc.

    If you still get no joy then I would contact your asthma nurse at the GP surgery and also your daughter's school nurse to provide you with support. In my experience I felt that the school thought I was exagerating my daughter's asthma. However, with the support of the school nursing service my daughter now has an asthma care plan in place & three identified staff who are available if there are any problems & can cover if someone isn't around. So far this is working & I am more confident that if my daughter has any problems with her asthma then she will be cared for. We also let school know if my daughter has had any problems with her asthma, for instance if she needs her inhaler more due to the cold weather.

    Good luck

  • Thank you MummyJ and Sarz! I've had her carry her inhaler in her pocket this week and I'll try to speak to the teacher as soon as they go back in January - it's manic this week!

  • Hey,

    I understand the whole school being stupid when it comes to asthma. When I was ten I was on the same meds are your daughter, my primary school was great. Secondary school not so much. It got to the point where I just didn't do pe anymore because i was worried that my asthma would get really bad - especially when we had to run around outside in the winter.

    My mum quickly got fed up with the pe department's view of asthma and that they thought I was just playing it up to get out of sports. She rand the school and ended up having a pretty heated conversation with my teacher explaining what could happen if my asthma decided to act up and my inhaler either did work or I couldn't take it for whatever reason. Needless to say my experience with this teacher got better from then on.

    Honestly I would say speak to the school - maybe start with your daughters teacher that caused this problem in the first place. Maybe thy didn't understand how detrimental not taking inhalers could be to your daughters health. If that doesn't give you the results you wanted ask to have a meeting with that teacher and the head teacher to settle this once and for all.

    I wish you well

    Frankie

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