Staff Report
Food allergy is a growing issue that impacts almost every school across the United States with nearly six million children having a food allergy. This equates to roughly two in every classroom. Add the fact that your child has a food allergy that could potentially develop into a life-threatening reaction while at school, makes this duty of sending your child to school even more challenging. How do you manage this safely and successfully at school?
Lisa Musician’s new book, Parenting a Positive Reaction, is a parent’s guide to help promote safe care at school for your food allergy child. Local FishHawk author Lisa Musician taps into her personal experiences and professional knowledge to inspire parents to become confident about their ability to promote safe care for their food allergy child while creating a sense of normalcy. This detailed step-by-step guide offers examples to successfully partner with the school by learning how to ask the necessary questions on keeping your child safe.
“Inspired from my own personal and professional experiences, I wanted to inspire parents to become confident about their ability in preparing for the exciting and sometimes daunting task of sending a child off to school with food allergies,” said Musician.
Parenting a Positive Reaction covers four keys to managing food allergies: Education; Recognizing and treating symptoms of anaphylaxis; communication and preparing for the unexpected; Roles and responsibilities of parents, school and student; Creating your child’s emergency treatment and identifying the differences between a 504 and IHP Plan.
Practical suggestions and checklists are included along with an explanation of why food allergies affect everyone, and the emotional impact it has.
Musician, RD, LDN, is a registered and licensed dietitian with 17 years of experience working with a board certified allergist, specializing in food allergies. Not only does Musician have experience managing her own food allergies, she is also the mother of two children (now young adults) with multiple food allergies and a history of anaphylaxis.
Parenting a Positive Reaction costs $15.95 and is available where books are sold including online booksellers, or by visiting www.foodallergydietitian.com.
