August 24, 2007
Behavior
Question from Cleveland, Tennessee, USA:
I have a six-year-old son who has had type 1 diabetes for 16 months. He has started first grade this year and the teacher says that most of the time in class he is hyper and is not getting his classwork done. When I ask him, he says he is goofing off. The teacher says sometimes he is talking and sometimes just playing around when he is supposed to be doing his work and that he doesn’t always follow instructions. The teacher seems to blame all of this on his blood sugars, which are usually normal except for a couple of hours after lunch when it may be 200 mg/dl [11.1 mmol/L] because his long-acting insulin is not peaking until about three hours after lunch. I feel like it may be another problem and that the school is just blaming it on his diabetes. Do you think I should have him evaluated for some kind of attention problem?
Answer:
Your son is very lucky to have you as a strong advocate! You are correct; his behavior is unlikely to be a result of his diabetes. It may be an issue of attention or of overactivity. It may also be an issue of a teacher who is not particularly fond of active boys and who does not have sufficient strategies for helping your son successfully remain on-task. The best way to find out is to get him evaluated. Contact your diabetes team and your pediatrician to get referrals for psychologists with expertise in evaluating children.
JWB
