My 2-year-old (SWCAH) is preparing to enter nursery school this fall. The school that she will attend offers a 1-day a week playgroup (which started last week) to help familiarize her with the teachers, other students, and the school. It is a partial separation program; I will stay with her until she seems comfortable without me. It is a great program attended recently by her 5 cousins (non-CAH), and many years ago, by her father.

About 2 months ago, I attended orientation. At this point I describe Allyson’s condition, and gave the director lots of written information regarding CAH, including information about the Solu-Cortef injection. "No problem, just make sure that we have a shot kit and details about when to administer it" the director said. I was thrilled, as I was expecting to be met with more of a resistance. We’ll that came last Friday when we attended the first playgroup. Allyson loved it, and after class I was speaking with the teacher and the director who promptly said that they could not give the shot. In addition, the information I had prepared for them did not give enough detail as to what physical stress or physical trauma are. I understand the liability in not administer the shot and hold no ill feelings towards the school. As a stay-at-home mom, I am prepared to stay close by in case of an emergency and will carry my cell/beeper with me at all times. But, the school still is requiring more detail information regarding "stress & trauma." We have a call into her endocrine’s office (Dr. New) to try and get more details.

So, after all this, my questions are:

1. What have other parents done in this situation? Does anyone have a letter that they can e-mail me? I have given them the letter from the Cares Foundation website; it was not detailed enough.
2. Has anyone be denied admission into a private school (nursery/daycare) because of his or her child’s condition.

As a side note – I spoke with the local ambulance service to inquire if they would give the shot if they arrived at my daughter’s school before I did. The answer was no – they can not administer any medicine that did not come off of their vehicle, even with the notarized letter from the doctor. Has anyone run into this issue?

Thanks in advance for all the information!

Rhonda