Learn about developing a 504 plan for diabetes and other steps you can take to help your child receive the care they need to be safer and participate in school.

Published: January 13, 2023 | Updated: March 1, 2023

After your child receives a Type 1 diabetes diagnosis, you may wonder, “What about school?” Developing a Section 504 plan for diabetes that formalizes your child’s needs is part of federal law that gives students the right to receive the diabetes care they need to be safer and participate in school activities.

504 plan for diabetes and other ways to keep your child safer and involved

Steps that you and your child’s diabetes care team with Wendy Novak Diabetes Institute, a part of Norton Children’s Endocrinology, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine, can do to coordinate your child’s care:

• Make sure all health forms are up to date (current within the calendar year)
• Set a meeting. Schedule a conversation to go over your child’s diagnosis and specific needs to develop a care plan to be followed during the school day. Consider inviting your child’s teacher(s), school nurse, and school counselor.  Wendy Novak Diabetes Institute can help provide recommendations for its patients.
• Create Section 504 plan with school staff. Under Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act, schools receiving public funding are required to accommodate any special needs your child with diabetes has. A Section 504 plan is a legal document that formalizes what your child’s school must do to accommodate your child’s condition at school. See a sample Section 504 plan from the American Diabetes Association.
• Know your child’s schedule. It may sound simple, but a child’s school schedule, such as times for lunch, extracurriculars, early dismissals or half days, etc., will affect the child’s insulin schedule. Knowing the schedule can help you and your child plan, so you both know what is supposed to happen — and what to do in case there are last-minute changes.

Your child’s rights at school

Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as other state and federal laws, outline the legal protections for children with diabetes. If your child attends private or religious school, accommodations may be provided at the discretion of the school and is not protected under federal law. According to federal law, public schools should provide:

• Trained staff to monitor blood sugar levels and administer insulin and glucagon

• Trained staff to provide diabetes care during field trips, extracurricular activities and all school-sponsored events
• That capable students be permitted to self-manage their diabetes anytime, anywhere

Schools should not:

• Make parents or guardians go to school to care for the student’s diabetes
• Transfer a student to a different school to get needed diabetes care
• Prevent a student with diabetes from participating in activities such as field trips, sports and other school-sponsored events

Under Indiana law, non-health care professionals are allowed to provide diabetes care. Additionally, if a school has a child with diabetes:

• The child is allowed to self-manage the condition anytime, anywhere.
• The child is allowed to carry diabetes supplies, such as needles, insulin and testing devices.
• A principal must recruit a volunteer, unlicensed health aid to be trained by a health professional to:
  • Check glucose and ketone levels and record results
  • Administer glucagon, insulin or other emergency treatments as prescribed

Under Kentucky law, non-health care professionals are allowed to provide diabetes care.

• Parents must provide the medication, give the school written authorization to administer the medicine and submit written authorization from the student’s health care provider.
• School districts must have at least one school employee on duty at each school to administer or help administer care to students.
• A school district must allow children to attend the school they would attend if they didn’t have diabetes, unless they require care by a licensed health care professional at a different school.
• The child is allowed to self-manage the condition anytime, anywhere, upon written request of the parent or guardian and the authorization of the child’s health care provider. A private area to perform diabetes care can be made available upon request of the parent or student.
• The child is allowed to carry diabetes supplies, such as needles, insulin and testing devices.

Reviewed by Paul S. Hiers, M.D., pediatric endocrinologist with Norton Children’s Endocrinology, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine