• May 10, 2013 Posted on College Age with Food Allergies,School & Food Allergies, 0 Comment

    Kicked Out of College Because of Food Allergies?

    Many of you probably saw the blog post by a young Washington state woman titled, "How I was Kicked Out of College Because of My Allergy." I was horrified and confused how this situation had occurred, especially after the young lady contacted the Disability Services Office of her school. Since my son, Morgan, is now 17 years old and a junior in high school, we have begun the college search in earnest. It is frightening at times how little a college really knows about food allergies. However, colleges and ...

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  • April 12, 2013 Posted on Emotional Aspects of Food Allergies,School & Food Allergies, 0 Comment

    Growing Up With Food Allergies

    In December of 2005, when my now 17 year old son, Morgan, was just 9 years old, I asked him if he'd be willing to start writing a column for my AllergicChild.com Newsletter. We decided to call it Morgan's Corner.  This was before he'd had anaphylaxis to fish on that fateful camping trip. He was still in elementary school, and wasn't yet allowed to self-carry his EpiPen since the law in Colorado was yet to be passed. However he was certainly knowledgeable about his food allergies! He'd ...

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  • March 22, 2013 Posted on School & Food Allergies,Uncategorized, 0 Comment

    Food Allergies in School: 3 Allergists Answer questions

    Our School District's Food Allergy Task Force wanted to find out what several allergists thought about managing food allergies at school. I sent these three allergists several questions: Daniel F. Soteres, MD MPH is a Board-Certified allergy/immunology physician with offices in Colorado Springs and Pueblo. He has been in private practice at Asthma and Allergy Associates and Research Center since 2005. Todd Mahr, MD, is a Board ...

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  • March 1, 2013 Posted on School & Food Allergies,Uncategorized, 0 Comment

    Food Free Classrooms – Can You Imagine?

      Wouldn't it be amazing if your child's school removed all food from the classroom? Imagine what that would be like for those students with food allergies! You wouldn't have to worry about a safe snack box; you wouldn't have to worry about snacks at all! No birthday celebrations of cupcakes, no holiday celebrations of buffets of sweets, cookies and candies - no food at all! There was a time, when my son was in elementary school, that such a thought ...

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  • February 21, 2013 Posted on School & Food Allergies, 0 Comment

    Stock Epinephrine bills in many state legislatures!

    Many state legislatures are currently hearing testimony about "stock epi" bills, which will benefit school children with diagnosed food allergies, and those who haven't yet been diagnosed. Several states, including Virginia, California, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and New York, already have stock epinephrine laws in place. Colorado HB 13-1171, concerning the use of auto-injectors in emergency situations in school settings, has recently been passed by the House Public Health Care & Human Services Committee  by a vote of 11-2. We have a long way to go to get it through ...

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  • February 8, 2013 Posted on School & Food Allergies, 0 Comment

    Should your child’s school district have a Food Allergy Task Force?

    We have one, and it’s the greatest group of advocates our school district has ever had to increase education and awareness of food allergies, and to keep children with life-threatening food allergies safe at school. Life Before the Task Force Before our task force was created, each parent of a child with food allergies had to train the teacher and school administrators about food allergies and what accommodations would be necessary to keep their individual child safe. In a district of over 23,000 students, we had almost 300 students with food allergies in ...

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  • January 18, 2013 Posted on School & Food Allergies, 0 Comment

    Court cases define Food Allergy as a Disability

    Recent court settlements have determined that a child or student's food allergy is a disability. While I would have cringed several years ago to think that my son has a disability, I now see this as welcome news! Here are the details of the first lawsuit: A lawsuit was filed by Shannon Knudson against Tiger Tots Community Care Center after they refused to accept her daughter with tree nut allergies in to their care because they feared liability. Ms. Knudson claimed that the daycare ...

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  • May 11, 2012 Posted on School & Food Allergies, 0 Comment

    Food Allergy, 504 Plans, Title II and K-12 Schools

    I recently attended a presentation by a Senior Attorney for the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in Denver, about Section 504, Title II and Students with Disabilities in Public Schools. This presentation was made to the MOSAIC support group in Denver, Colorado on  May 7, 2012 in regard to 504 Plans in the K-12 school setting. Information in this blog post should not be used to argue a specific issue that you may have with a school, but is provided here for informational purposes only. The attorney started the talk with ...

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  • May 4, 2012 Posted on Interviews,School & Food Allergies, 0 Comment

    Food Allergy & the School Lunch

    The US Department of Agriculture oversees the national school lunch program and has a guidance document here.  On page 25 of this document, it states "The school has the responsibility to provide a safe, non-allergic meal to the child if it is determined that the condition is disabling." Setting forth this statement is one thing - the application of it depends upon educated cafeteria staff, accurate ingredient listings of foods and in some cases good luck! There are many ways to deal with the school lunch. We have opted for ...

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  • February 13, 2012 Posted on Emotional Aspects of Food Allergies,School & Food Allergies, 0 Comment

    Food Allergies, School & a Tragedy

    Sending your child off to school for the first time is difficult for most parents. When your child has food allergies, there can be even more anxiety. Then, hearing about the death of a 7 year old girl at school in Virginia can tip the anxiety over the top! The details around the sad, tragic death of first grade student, Ammaria Johnson, may never be fully known. (Click here for more info about this tragedy.) What is known is that Ammaria never received epinephrine at her school. Her Mom ...

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Nicole@AllergicChild.com

6660 Delmonico Dr. Ste D249
Colorado Springs, CO 80919

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