How do you handle overbearing school nurses or administrators?

It doesn’t seem to matter how many “fracture procedures” you may present the school with before the year begins. And it doesn’t matter how many doctor’s notes you have signed that allow the administration of pain medications, or forms that say “the child should not be sent to the local emergency room..” In my experience, when fractures happen at school all of that is forgotten and most things are done from the perspective of their safety a.k.a liability.

When I was younger and fractured in school, my mother would often swing by the school to put on an old splint or put my arm in a sling and then send me back off to class. Though I was never a part of the “difference of opinions” that she had with the school nurse — when I got home I would never hear the end of it: “the school can’t be calling me every single time for every little bump or accident you have. They can’t expect me to be taking you out of class and driving you to the doctor’s for a shoulder that we both know isn’t broken..” and I can’t count how many times I have heard her say “I know my child best, and I trust what she says the most — if Sandy says it’s not broken, then it’s not broken..”

Granted some times I just wanted to stay in school with my friends and not while away hours and hours at the hospital for a sling that my mother could have just given me herself. But that’s just the point! The standard procedure for a ‘normal’ kid to break a bone are not standard procedures when someone with O.I. breaks a bone… you don’t need to be a genius to understand that!

Here are some tips to try:

• Agree on a ‘pain scale’ so that when fractures do happen it serves as a clear-cut benchmark as to what to do and when. i.e. “If the pain is lower than a 3 then the school can…” “If the pain is higher than a 7 then the child should go home..”
• Leave a set of splints or bandages at the school so that when something does happen, the school can immediately take action without feeling the need to wait for a doctor to get back to the nurse, or in the case that a parent is unreachable.
• Assure the school that you understand that everyone wants what is safest for the student. If parents choose to send a child back to school after a recent fracture, make firm that this has been ‘okayed’ by the physician, and isn’t just a vague call that the parent is making. Schools like it when “someone with authority” makes the call — despite the fact that parents have rights and authority over their children as well..
• Before the school year has begun make sure that aides and or classroom teachers have been made clear what to do when a fracture has happened.
• When the school suggests anything, ask them back “have you asked what my child thinks of this first?” Particularly for kids who are older, they may be more aware of what should be done and should be involved in the decision making process.

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