The first day of school is right around the corner. The Sunday newspaper flyers are filled with back-to-school items: Things every kid could need or want. As I rustle through the inserts I can't help but think how secondary all this stuff seems. For children with type 1 diabetes, there is so much more to be done before they set foot on school property.

We have two children entering 3rd grade. Here is our To Do List before the school year gets underway:

504 plan: We recently updated our children's 504 plan at their last quarterly endo visit.

We need to meet with the school officials to discuss how diabetes affects what they do. So, we'll meet with the principal, school nurse, and teachers. Both JoJo and Nick have new teachers this year. We'll go over the 504 plan and help them understand the signs and symptoms of hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia, and to be aware of how those low and high glucose levels are exhibited in each child.

JoJo has an insulin pump: We talked to our medical team about adjusting JoJo's basal rates and times, insulin to carbo ratios, and insulin sensitivity factors (correction factors) due to changes in eating, activity level and sleep cycles from summer to school year.

Laminated card for bus driver: We hand the bus driver a laminated card describing emergency "what to look fors" related to their diabetes. There is a "no food policy" on our bus but the bus driver understands our kids may need to eat on the bus if their blood glucose levels require it. Our oldest daughter Naomi always watches out for Nick and JoJo.

Snacks: We review the snacks we give our kids to see if they contain or may contain nut proteins to determine if it's a peanut /nut free safe snack. Our kids can only bring peanut/nut free snacks into the classrooms but during lunch they are free to bring whatever they want.

Glucagon Emergency Kit: Checked the expiration date.

These are just a few of the items from our list. There's so much more... Here's to a successful and healthy school year for all of the kids.