ates of obesity. Individuals suffering from diabetes may experience episodes of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar levels) or hyperglycemia (high blood sugar levels). While hyperglycemia can trigger symptoms such as "malaise, fatigue,à drowsiness, excessive thirst and coma," hypoglycemia can lead to "headaches, sudden changes in behavior, nausea and vomiting, blurred vision, profuse sweating, excessive hunger,à convulsions and comas" (qtd. in DePaepe et al., 2002, p. 11). Moreover, individuals with diabetes are also susceptible to a life-threatening condition of ketoacidosis that occurs when fat is being burned for energy due to the lack of insulin to convert sugar into energy (Chase, 2002, cited in McKesson Health Solutions, 2003).
Based on the above description, it is evident that children with diabetes may experience difficulties in the educational setting for a variety of reasons. First, children with diabetes who are experiencing high or low blood sugar levels will clearly be unable to keep up with their school work during these episodes. Second, these children may have missed out on classroom instruction while they were addressing their diabetes needs such as measuring their blood glucose levels (Cummings, 2000). Finally, Thies (1999) also suggested that children with who had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes before the age of five may suffer from impairments in "visual and spatial abilities" due to their exposure to long-term mild changes in their blood glucose levels. They may thus have problems with reading due to their undermined visual scanning abilities. Furthermore, due to their fatigue and confusion, some students with diabetes may also encounter difficulties with performing planning tasks and paying attention to detail.
In order to reduce the adverse effects of diabetes on these students, the IDEA requires education providers to determine whether individual students with diabetes require spe...