[kiwilrdg]

I know there were a lot of tangents on the seizure dog thread about SDs in school and allergy problems. I had a comment that I was going to post there but rather than another tangent there I am posting it here.

I had severe hay fever that bordered on asthma when I was in elementry school. I was put in a special class for specific learning disabilities, could not spell or perform most arithmatic. When I started an allergy shot series my allergies improved enough that I was only using antihistimines at night and when I was near a source of allergens. I moved to advanced classes and by my senior year I was taking my math and science classes in a local college. I am not allergic to dogs but I do understant why someone that was could have problems with a SD in a school. Dander allergies do not require that the animal be in the room so the allergy can be triggered if the room was used to hold the dog a long time earlier in the day.

I don't really see a realistic solution to the two problems at the same time.

 

[beaderdog]

If both students have special needs, the school district must accomodate both, but they cannot accomodate one (such as the child with severe allergies) at the expense of the other (such as a child who needs his/her service dog). While the school district would prefer to make life easy by saying "no service dog", that's not what they are required to do. They must create an appropriate learning environment for each child.

If a child's allergies are so severe that he/she cannot tolerate animal dander in any form, the service dog would not be the only issue because the odds are that many of the child's classmates will be carrying animal dander on their clothing. The school district would have to create a safe learning environment for the child with allergies, whether it's a separate classroom or a change in placement or some other accomodation, with or without the presence of a service dog. They can't just tell the rest of the students to get rid of their pets. A look at the research that's been done on the issues surrounding service dogs in classrooms & at anecdotal evidence shows that the allergy issue is not the problem in real life that it tends to be in conjecture.

 

[SARAHSMITH]

My brother has asthma and is allergic to all animals with fur. If he visits a house with a dog, even the "low allergy" breeds", after 2 hrs he has to leave because his allergies get too bad to tolerate. He takes meds every day for asthma but can't tolerate animals. Even with this pretty severe allergy, he can tolerate people who have animals without problems.
I'm not taking sides but from my personal experience with a family member with really bad asthma am saying that a student with asthma having an allergic reaction to any student that owns an animal is probably not an issue.

 

[kiwilrdg]

Where did the trolls go?

 

[AbbyK9]

They're still mucking up the other thread, obviously lacking in the intelligence to understand that their discussion about allergies does not belong there.

 

[kiwilrdg]

Wow, we solved that problem quickly.