Dd diagnosed with asthma, should school be more understanding?

[MissRabbitHasTooManyJobs]

Dd just turned 5, was recently diagnosed at AH children's hospital after suffering for a long time.
GP was reluctant to diagnose until 5 as said they don't like to label/diagnose until that age and always said it was "viral induced wheezing "
Dd had 9 bouts of steroids in just over a year and started reception last September and picked up every virus going which seemed to kick off her chest and resulted in many nights with little or no sleep.
School rightly not happy about attendance (currently 80%) but we do as much as possible at home to try and make up the shortfall and dd is way above average but I feel so guilty.
Now dd has an official diagnosis/asthma plan/brown inhaler and will be seeing a respiratory consultant intermittently should the school have all of this on her records? I'm planning on speaking to them today as now have all the paperwork from hospital.
Sometimes felt like I wasn't believed and that I was keeping dd off for no reason and the attendance person in school was mentioning fines etc.. She has only just turned five and am
Hoping that her attendance will massively improve now she has brown inhaler. Sorry for such long post, it's been causing me major anxiety ( on top of severe anxiety ) and I just want to be taken seriously and not be known as someone who has a lax attitude to school.
Dd struggles with walking when her asthma is bad and as said up thread misses out on sleep so there have been times when I felt it would be literally cruel to send her in...
Thanks for reading :)

[Quodlibet]

I would ask for a meeting with school to discuss her diagnosis (it's a chronic health condition) and how you and school will work together to manage the effects on her health.
You will feel reassured if there's a plan outlined for if she has an asthma attack in school, and I think that they should likewise be reassured if you've both agreed that under xyz conditions she won't be well enough to attend, and here's our joint plan to make sure she is keeping up with work.

They must have policies for working with families where children's health causes multiple absences; I'd ask to see them.

[Quodlibet]

Also - hoping that now your daughter has diagnosis it is brought under control and she begins to feel better. I have asthma too.

[MissRabbitHasTooManyJobs]

Thank you so much :)
That's a really good idea.. I'm going to ask for a meeting when I speak to them today.
I felt a bit like a fraud saying she had asthma as it wasn't official but just knew. Her dad has suffered with severe asthma his whole life and recognised the signs very early on.
Now I can give them the diagnosis and hope that they support us going forward. A plan is such a good idea and is less ambiguous I suppose.
I said the other day that I wish we could go back to September and start again but then contradicted myself as I said i wouldn't have made any decisions over absence any differently! It's the guilt feeling again i suppose...

[Sirzy]

My son has severe asthma, also under the care of alder hey now (I hope you have the same lovely consultant as us)

Thankfully our school is fantastic, before he started the school nurse met with me and his teacher to create a care plan so everything is formally recorded including what is expected of school. This is fantastic when he is having a flare up. This is updated regularly.

Ds is currently off after an asthma attack (following a bronchoscopy!) and by the time he is well enough to go back will have missed 3 weeks of school - school aren't bother though and are very much of the when he is well he will be in attitude. He is hopefully doing some half days next week.

[Toomanycats99]

My daughter is 4 and she has asthma. Only generally suffers in the cold weather. Although we were told they don't generally diagnose until 5 we were lucky and they agreed when she was about 3.25 that it was asthma. She would literally start coughing the minute the weather turned!

[MissRabbitHasTooManyJobs]

Hi Sirzy :) thanks for your message.
Our consultant is a lady and she is absolutely wonderful! Initials CD.
How old is your ds now? It's horrible isn't it seeing them suffer :(
I think the issue with our school is that after having outstanding ofsted for many years they were downgraded last year and are pushing attendance all the time which I understand but there's got be a bit more compassion surely!
Aren't we so lucky to live on the doorstep ( 10 mins away for us ) to such a fantastic hospital...

[MissRabbitHasTooManyJobs]

Ps wishing your ds a speedy recovery x

[ivykaty44]

Stop feeling guilty, the school must stop putting stats before care - they don't feel guilty do they fit looking at their interests above the health and well being of your dc....

So you must stop feeling guilty, it's your job to take the well being and health if your dc first and foremost above stats and ofset reports.

I would rather pay any fines than put my DD at risk and certainly wouldn't be feeling guilty.

[MissRabbitHasTooManyJobs]

Hi cats.. Thankfully your dd got her diagnosis earlier, the consultant we saw yday said that the 5 yr thing is ridiculously outdated and should not affect when a child is diagnosed but we've heard it from so many different doctors, who am I to question them? Wish I had now!
Yy to the cold weather, it's such a trigger isn't it? Lots of luck to your dd, hopefully her school will be much more understanding though i do believe if we had started with a diagnosis then things may have been different...

[MissRabbitHasTooManyJobs]

Thanks ivy! You are so right x

[Emochild]

A lot of schools now have specific policies regarding asthma management and care plans

Ask them what their policy is

They should be supportive

[Sirzy]

Ds is 6 but was diagnosed by the local hospital at 11 months. He is under a different but equally as good consultant.

The schools attendance figures aren't your problem, I would just carry on as you are. Hopefully now she has the medicstion things will improve anyway.

If you know cold weather is a trigger then worth discussing with the school about giving her some ventolin before playtime on cold days to try to prevent it triggering.

[Toomanycats99]

Missrabbit - i think the 5 relates to the age they are capable of doing the lung function test. However in our case they agreed symptoms were pretty clear. My sister also suffers from cold related asthma. The school are good. She has brown inhaler morning and night at home and we keep a blue one at school and if I feel she need it I just call the office and they put her on the list for lunchtime medications for as long as I specify.