Pre-School Prep School

We decided that it was time to let Bryan out of his little bubble this fall and start Pre-School. Sort of like with the airlines, I did a LOT of research before making our decision. First, I narrowed it down to schools/centers that were accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). My reasoning for this was twofold. First, NAEYC accreditation is an indicator of high quality among early childhood centers. The voluntary accreditation process is fairly rigorous. They look at many different factors, from curriculum to communication with families, from the physical environment to staff preparation. As a former early childhood teacher, I put NAEYC accreditation high on my priority list. Additionally, I reasoned that because the accreditation process is so meticulous, if a center were willing to go through the accreditation process and maintain those high standards, hopefully that would indicate they would be committed to working with us on Bryan's food allergies.

After I narrowed down the list of centers, I spent a lot of time on the phone. I spoke with the director of each center, first discussing the severity of Bryan's allergies, then covering their policies and procedures for working with children with food allergies. Among the topics I asked about were:

• Previous experience working with food-allergic children
• Food preparation (some centers provide food; others require children to bring their lunches) and mealtime procedures (where would he sit, how closely would he be supervised)
• Medical procedures, including where an Epi-Pen and/or Benadryl would be kept, who would administer it, what training teachers and staff had, emergency procedures, and what kind of discretion teachers had to administer medication on an "as needed" basis

After my marathon telephone sessions were done, I ended up with one center that seemed to be a good fit. I made an appointment to tour the center and meet the director. During the tour, we discussed much of the same information that we had covered over the phone, but this time I was able to see everything in person. It also allowed me to start establishing the relationship with the staff that will be a big component of keeping Bryan safe at school. After the visit, my husband and I talked about everything for several days, and we finally decided that this school would be a good option for Bryan. We went ahead and enrolled him to start in the middle of September.

Note to parents of food-allergic children- In addition to the usual medical forms that needed to be completed by the pediatrician, I asked our allergist for a Food Allergy Action Plan. This form has a complete list of Bryan's food allergies, as well as the steps that should be taken if a reaction were to occur. Ours describes each of the possible symptoms of a reaction, and indicates whether Benadryl or Epi-Pen should be administered. I will try to scan ours and post it so that you can see an example.

I still plan to meet with Bryan's teacher in person before he starts (she wasn't there when I visited). Otherwise, I think that we are prepared to take this next big step. Now whether or not I'm actually READY is a completely different question...