School Accommodations For Food Allergic Students

Children and adolescents with food allergies are particularly vulnerable students. Not only are they more likely than non-allergic students to be bullied (Lieberman, 2011), to find it necessary to avoid foods to which they are allergic (Cash, 2012), to be required to learn to recognize the symptoms of anaphylaxis and to report these persuasively to a responsible adult (Wallace & Cash, 2011), and to safeguard one or more epinephrine auto-injectors which they should carry at all times (Wallace & Cash, 2011), but they also must know that if they fail to carry out these responsibilities faithfully, the results could be fatal. Especially for younger children, these extra burdens necessitate that schools provide some sort of assistance. It is critical to determine what accommodations are necessary and how parents can ensure that they are implemented. Knowing and using Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 can help