super annoyed

Does anyone have an autistic unit at your school. I work for an elementary school. We have a small class of autistic students. The staff in the class bring me kids constantly because they do not fell good and want me to call home and have someone pick them up. The majority of the time the student has no fever, no vomiting, no runny nose, and no cough. They seem fine to me in the clinic, but once they return to class the student suddenly is crying, coughing, sneezing, or what ever. The teachers in there get annoyed because I don't feel comfortable making parents come get there kids because they are crying. Does anyone have to deal with this. My opinion is they just don't want germs in the class.. Should i treat these kids like I do the rest of the students.

Yes. And no.

While parameters as far as fever, vomiting etc. should still exist, remember that some of these kids may not be able to communicate the way kids who are not classified can.

They may be sick, they may be anxious, they may have a scratchy tag, they may not like their snack, they may not like their teacher.

This is why good communication needs to be strong between those TAs/teachers and us as nurses.

I do usually give the parents a heads' up if one of the Spec. Ed. kids are brought down. I find that the parents appreciate it.

I have been dealing with the same thing this year. The TA's are new, young and inexperienced. They bring them in all day long...

Next year, I am going to toughen up though. Give them some stricter parameters for bringing kids. There are 7 adults over there with 11 kids. I on the other hand are working with a 1:1300 ratio.

While ASD people may present differently with somatic issues when sick, overall I've found SPED staff very quick on the "send 'em home" trigger. Set your limits, but also listen to their insights. The good staff can pick up on illness through behaviors in some cases. The not-so-good staff jump at the chance to improve the room ratio. (I wonder if they lost paid hours, i.e. had their shifts cut due to kids being dismissed if they'd be so quick to push the nurse to start this process.)

i do have an autistic class - 3 actually. I gotta say - the class for the older kids got a new teacher and since my time in dealing with that classroom has plummeted. The others are actually pretty sporifice too. I am fortunate in that my staff recognizes that these children have behaviors that include making themselves vomit - sure not every vomit is a behavior and some of these children eat strange soft diets resulting in consistent soft stools - but when they come to me because their stool is liquid and peeling the paint off the wall, i'm good with sending the kiddos home.

I think we're all in a good place right now.

Yes. And no.

While parameters are far as fever, vomiting etc. should still exist, remember that some of these kids may not be able to communicate the way kids who are not classified can.

They may be sick, they may be anxious, they may have a scratchy tag, they may not like their snack, they may not like their teacher.

This is why good communication needs to be strong between those TAs/teachers and us as nurses.

I do usually give the parents a heads' up if one of the Spec. Ed. kids are brought down. I find that the parents appreciate it.

^^^ This x100.

Communication is key. The student can indeed be sick. Or, the behavior can be escape-motivated (got the intended reaction before, the staff will now see an increase in that behavior). Or, the behavior can be attention-seeking. You get the idea. It takes a strong team to nix the aberrant behaviors in the bud while addressing the best interests of the student.

I had a non-verbal child with autism (9-years old) that cried for hours. Exhibited self-injurious behavior when given a demand, flopped to the ground, etc. Bam. Two hours later, the child was truly sick; he was exhibiting those behaviors because he really wasn't feeling well. That was his way of telling us. Those behaviors weren't the norm for him. Another kid could exhibit the same behaviors but they were the norm for him -- we plowed through them, he didn't go home. He wasn't sick at all.

Parents always appreciated the heads-up, whatever the case, by either myself or the nurse. They usually had good feedback too.

I have one severely autistic kiddo that is brought to me all the time. The staff do not want to be blamed if he has a bruise or scratch, I understand that. BUT- they send him down for temperature checks constantly because he "feels hot" and are convinced he has a fever when the thermometer says otherwise. They also send him for what I would consider behavior issues...yes, he has allergies, but wiping his boogers on everything is not my problem and not a reason to send him home. And they are in my office daily to use my restroom to change his briefs, so plenty of opportunity to bug me about every tiny thing.

I have one severely autistic kiddo that is brought to me all the time. The staff do not want to be blamed if he has a bruise or scratch, I understand that. BUT- they send him down for temperature checks constantly because he "feels hot" and are convinced he has a fever when the thermometer says otherwise. They also send him for what I would consider behavior issues...yes, he has allergies, but wiping his boogers on everything is not my problem and not a reason to send him home. And they are in my office daily to use my restroom to change his briefs, so plenty of opportunity to bug me about every tiny thing.

I had a booger wall when I was 3. My parents had to put up paneling when I outgrew it.

Thank you!!!

We are working on it.

I am at a special needs school and we have over 100 students with autism. Many of them are nonverbal. We treat them as you would treat a typically developed student in terms of fevers. But when it comes to most other things, we don't have hard and fast rules. Most things are on a case by case basis based on deviations from the students baseline. For example if there is a student that make themselves vomit, we wouldn't send them home for vomiting unless it was more then usual. Or if a student has certain stimming behaviors and stops doing them we know something is probably going on. If I don't know the student that well I depend on classroom staff's observations. It is a different set of skills. My advice is to learn the student's baselines really well.