School is difficult for my child who has had type 1 diabetes since age two, and no one has an answer to that question. What effect does type 1 have on the brain? Do the highs and lows have a neurological impact or not? How does the fluctuation affect the learning process of these children?

Children with well controlled type 1 diabetes have no measurable change in intellectual functioning — even when it is diagnosed at age two. This, of course, does not mean that a child with diabetes cannot have learning disabilities or behavior problems. Those should be addressed in the same way that they are addressed in children that don’t have diabetes. Please see your child’s pediatrician for more information on treating those problems.

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[Editor’s comment: If you search PubMed using “diabetes+learning disabilities”, there are several hundred citations. Most interesting is: McCarthy AM, Lindgren S, Mengeling MA, Tsalikian E, Engvall JC, Effects of diabetes on learning in children.

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