My 5 yo nephew is autistic and is in a program through the county school. He is also severly allergic to nuts. There is a another child that brings a PB&J sandwiches for lunch. DN is not able to understand not to eat PB. The other parents say this is all that their child will eat and it would be like denying him food. SIL has written letters to the school and school board. I was curious to here what others had to say about this situation.
Thanks in advance
Jane
Our school's policy is that the classroom the child is in is a \"nut free\" room. There is a sign posted on the door and letters go home to all the parents telling them they are not allowed to send in snacks that contain nuts. The parents of the kids sometimes send home suggestions of safe snacks, especially for classroom parties to give some ideas on fun things to bring in.
In the cafeteria there is a \"nut free table\" which the children with nut allergies sit. No one is allowed to sit at that table if they have any food with nuts.
The school does put all the kids with nut allergies in one classroom (we have 5 classes in each grade level).
TP
Thanks Maria_N for the response. I appreciate it.
Jane
Our kids are not in school yet but at daycare. The daycare is a nut-free facility, no nuts, no traces of nuts, nothing like that allowed in the daycare. DS is allergic to nuts (and eggs, and fish) so I am extremely grateful for this because at this age (3), he doesn't understand \"allergic\" yet. I would be very concerned if I was your sister too - I think the other parents do not (obviously!) understand the severity of food allergies (they really need to be educated on this, IMHO).
My kids school (private) is nut free, nothing made with nuts, traces of nuts, equipment with nuts, etc . . . I also was a preschool teacher for a few years and it was nut free as well, but the parents did not listen. Some were amazing, but others just were clueless or rude and so worried, what will poor Jonny eat if he cant his whatever. Drove me nuts, so I would just take the food and send home the standard note about our policy. I am used to the nut free policy now and have learned which products I can send and what is not safe. I dont mind it even though it is a hassle b/c I understand how bad it can be.
My DD's daycare is nut free. But just the other day DH's little cousin who is 8 was telling us about the peanut table at school and that's the only place you're allowed to sit if you're eating nuts for lunch.
Stephanie
Our school's policy is that the classroom the child is in is a \"nut free\" room. There is a sign posted on the door and letters go home to all the parents telling them they are not allowed to send in snacks that contain nuts. The parents of the kids sometimes send home suggestions of safe snacks, especially for classroom parties to give some ideas on fun things to bring in. In the cafeteria there is a \"nut free table\" which the children with nut allergies sit. No one is allowed to sit at that table if they have any food with nuts.The school does put all the kids with nut allergies in one classroom (we have 5 classes in each grade level).TP
My DS's elementary school is exactly like this. Public schools in our state cannot prohibit nuts but can prohibit nuts in a classroom. All the preschools DS attended were nut free though and private. It's not just nut allergies either, we have one little girl who's allergic to everything it seems. She has her own placemat that she brings to lunch.
My DD's daycare was totally nut free, and they would throw away anything brought in that was questionable. Now she is in kindy in a public school and we have not been told any restrictions. I am pretty sure there is a \"nut-free\" table in the cafeteria, but there have been no guidelines for the classroom - and each week a parent is designated to bring in snacks every day. When it was my turn, I made nut-free choices out of common sense. But I didn't go out of my way to check if something was processed in a facility that also processes tree nuts. I do know that there is one girl in the class with a nut allergy, and her mother provides her own snack (and she understands that she can't eat nuts). I don't think her allergy is very severe.
At my DD's after school program (she also goes there full-day on days when the school is closed) she told me that if you bring peanut butter, you have to eat in the hall.
One suggestion: could the other student's parents try a peanut butter alternative, like Sunbutter (made with sunflower seeds in a totally tree-nut-free facility)? I think it tastes pretty similar (even better, actually), and if I send a sandwich to school with DD, I always use that, just to avoid any issues.
I don't know why some parents get so defensive about making accommodations like this. It's for a kids health, for pete's sake! What if it was their kid?
Our preschool is peanut and tree nut free too. My DS went to the lunch bunch and we had to send lunch for that. He also loves peanut butter, so I used soy butter. I've heard the sun butter is good too. He didn't mind the soy butter (I think it's gross).
Jennifer
All of our schools are nut free - entirely regardless of whether or not a classroom has a child w/nut allergies in it. B/c obviously kids travel around and they don't want a kid w/allergies to come in contact w/trace nut stuff in a classroom that is not theirs.
I'm a teacher - I had a student in my classroom that was allergic to the smallest amount of trace including on your breathe - my students and anyone who came into our classroom - had to wash their hands when arriving in the classroom - anytime we left for another part of the school i.e. returning from the library and coming in from recess.
We have a law in Ontario called Sabrina's Law which protects these students. It may seem severe but when faced w/a child who can die w/in 3-5 mins of exposure (as my student could if he was exposed) it seems very little to ask.
Thanks again commenting. DN is severly austistic and doesn't understand what he can or can't eat. The school makes the other boy eat at another table and the teacher is supposed to carry an epi-pen. However I have a hard time believing that the only thing that kid will eat is peanut butter!! DN will have to struggle his whole life and it breaks my heart.
Thanks again
Jane
I just enrolled my kids for preschool for the fall. The school is nut-free. They also mentioned that they may restrict other foods based on the needs of other children.
Since none of you have an autistic child..........yes, they can have a very limited diet - sometimes just one item. So taking away PB from this child would mean he would starve. Autistic kids just don't operate like your normal kids. You can't slip in substitutions. You cannot reason with them and they do NOT care about anyone else on the planet, typically. It is very difficult to transition from one food to another and besides the taste you have textures issues to contend with as well as breaking in a new routine. My DS went through a phase where he would only eat things that were frozen - like frozen chicken nuggets, frozen PBJ sandwiches, frozen waffles. If they thawed out, OMG, you better get some frozen ones.
I completely understand about the nut allergies, too. I have a zillion allergies myself and am allergic to walnuts but the reaction is mild.
I was going to say the same thing as the pp.
I have worked with adults and children who are autistic, and we had several that ate the same thing every day for lunch and then ate the same thing for dinner and breakfast..
My dd's school is nut free. When she was nursery because of her egg allergy they became egg free too 
Thank you for the responses. I really appreciate them. I was just curious to know how other schools handle kids with allergies. The program that DN is in has both children with special needs as well as other children. I hope that my SIL can convince the school board that this is a problem. I would hate to see any child have anaphylactic reaction.
Jane
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