Severe Food Allergies in the Classroom Prompt Discussion

A six year-old girl in Edgewater, FL has a peanut allergy so severe that the school is requiring all students to take serious measures to protect her. Children in the girl's class must wash their hands prior to entering the classroom, and rinse out their mouths after lunch, to avoid putting her into anaphylactic shock. Parents have been hearing false rumors that their children's mouths are being rinsed out with disinfectant and are demanding the child be pulled and homeschooled. The school argues that they must make accommodations, as the child's allergy is severe enough to be considered a disability.

For the past sixteen years, I have worked in private Montessori schools in two different states. Each school has had to deal with its own share of food allergies, ranging from minor to severe. Each school has handled the situation in different ways.

Peanut Allergy

At one school, a preschool child was diagnosed with a severe peanut allergy. Even if someone were to breathe on her, she could have anaphylaxis. To protect her, the school made the early childhood wing of the school a peanut-free zone. At first, parents were upset, trying to figure out what they were going to send their children for lunch. When they realized the severity of the problem, however, they were willing to change around their lunch menus.

When the child reached the elementary years, the peanut-free zone then went to the other side of the school.

At my current school, children with peanut allergies are usually put into the same class. If those children with allergies are also in after school care, parents are asked to avoid sending peanut butter in lunches. Depending on the severity of the allergy, sometimes children can still eat peanut butter, as long as the child with the peanut allergy sits at a different table.

Other Food Allergies

As a part of Montessori education, we do food preparation, and the children independently prepare their own snacks. At all three of the schools, children's parents help contribute the snack and some of the food preparation activities for the children. If a child has a severe food allergy, such as the child who goes into anaphylactic shock just from someone breathing on him, we ask parents to avoid foods with those ingredients. All foods must be prepackaged so that we can read the list of ingredients. We also encourage children with food allergies to bring in their own snacks, just to be on the safe side.

Food Intolerance

Sometimes a child simply has a food intolerance, as opposed to a full-blown food allergy. Whether it is an intolerance, or a food allergy, parents are to fill out an allergy form. This details the effects on the child, should she consume the food, as well as precautions and treatments that must be taken. Those who require an Epi-pen must have a form filled out by the doctor, as well as providing the school one to keep on hand, just in case.

We take the same precautions with food intolerances as we do with allergies. We carefully read all labels before allowing the child to eat snack or food prep. We keep an eye on which foods that child is consuming, as kids sometimes forget which foods they cannot eat. And we also encourage those children to keep something extra on hand to eat.

We take these intolerances and allergies very seriously. Our main goal is the education of the children as a whole.