I am an educator who works in a special education school. I have a student who was recently diagnosed with diabetes. This student has been having severe outbursts — throwing objects, hitting, threatening peers, etc. — after lunch, prior to his being diagnosed. Could these behaviors in any way be affected by his diabetes? Up to this point he has not been on any special diet and he has not started taking insulin.

Does this child truly have diabetes? I would expect some medications such as insulin or pills, as well as special food guidelines, blood glucose and urine ketone monitoring would be involved if this child had diabetes.

If the child does have diabetes, the diabetes won’t cause behavior problems, however fluctuations in blood sugar can add to already existing problems. The main exception to what I have already said is that if the child takes insulin or pills and has a low blood sugar, then while the blood sugar is too low, behavior changes may commonly occur. After the blood sugar comes back up to normal, the behavioral changes should resolve.

LM