School Presentation Tutorial
By Brandis, Chief Mulitimedia Momma and FTA Facebook Admin
Children are a wonderful audience for Feeding Tube Awareness Week presentations. They are curious by nature and when given the right information from the right source, they can be very accepting of people with differences. We decided as a family that this was something we wanted to do and so I emailed my kids’ teachers to ask if they would allow us to do the presentations.
Here’s a basic format that can be used for contacting teachers or schools:
Dear Mr./Ms./Mrs. _____________,
Our family will be participating in Feeding Tube Awareness Week the week of February _________ in honor of our son/daughter/cousin/friend _______________________, who is dependent on a feeding tube. As part of a nationwide initiative, we would like to help spread awareness by doing a short presentation for your class about feeding tubes. We will explain what they are, why people need them, what they look like, and that feeding tubes are nothing to be afraid of. Our hope is that education will foster acceptance and understanding of children who depend on this lifesaving medical device.
If this is something you would be interested in, please contact me at ______________ to set up a day and time that would work for your class.
Thank you!
The key is to keep it simple and on the appropriate level. The content of the presentation will vary depending on the age of the audience. The older the children are, the more in-depth the information can be. For example, for my son’s 1st grade class, we only talked about 2 types of tubes: nasal tubes and gastric tubes. For my daughter’s 3rd grade class, we broke it down further and talked about NG/NJ/ND tubes and G, GJ and J tubes.
Here is a basic presentation outline, which you can personalize:
What is a feeding tube?
Why do people need feeding tubes?
Explain several of the possible reasons such as:
How do you use a feeding tube?
List supplies needed to administer a feed:
Explain different feeding methods:
Frequently Asked Questions
This is not an in-depth outline, but the details of the presentation will vary by audience. We chose to make our presentation very specific to our daughter and that worked very well for us. She was able to be there with us during the presentation and the kids were fascinated with her and her tubie. We showed pictures of our daughter with each type of tube, passed around (in sealed plastic bags) each of the tubes we talked about, showed them a doll with a G tube in it (Tubie Friends or Mini Buddy would be great for this purpose!), and brought all of the supplies we need for our daughter’s feeds (a can of formula, extension tubes, syringes, feeding pump & backpack, etc.) so that the kids could hold up each item as they talked about it.
My 7 and 9 year olds used a PowerPoint presentation for their classes and that worked really well for us. They did the entire presentation by themselves and I helped out with the Q&A session after they finished. I was floored by the thoughtful questions my daughter’s 3rd grade classmates came up with. Be prepared to answer questions!
Here is a link to our presentation, including PowerPoint slides and speaker notes.
GO BACK TO RAISING AWARENESS
Here’s a basic format that can be used for contacting teachers or schools:
Dear Mr./Ms./Mrs. _____________,
Our family will be participating in Feeding Tube Awareness Week the week of February _________ in honor of our son/daughter/cousin/friend _______________________, who is dependent on a feeding tube. As part of a nationwide initiative, we would like to help spread awareness by doing a short presentation for your class about feeding tubes. We will explain what they are, why people need them, what they look like, and that feeding tubes are nothing to be afraid of. Our hope is that education will foster acceptance and understanding of children who depend on this lifesaving medical device.
If this is something you would be interested in, please contact me at ______________ to set up a day and time that would work for your class.
Thank you!
The key is to keep it simple and on the appropriate level. The content of the presentation will vary depending on the age of the audience. The older the children are, the more in-depth the information can be. For example, for my son’s 1st grade class, we only talked about 2 types of tubes: nasal tubes and gastric tubes. For my daughter’s 3rd grade class, we broke it down further and talked about NG/NJ/ND tubes and G, GJ and J tubes.
Here is a basic presentation outline, which you can personalize:
What is a feeding tube?
- Explain that for many reasons, some people aren’t able to eat or drink enough to be healthy so they need a feeding tube in order to get all the nutrients and fluids into their bodies without eating or drinking.
- Name the types of feeding tubes and go into whatever detail you feel is appropriate for the age group. It’s not necessary to explain all of these but these are the types of tubes: (Nasogastric (NG), Nasojejunal (NJ), Nasoduodenal (ND), Gastrostomy (G), Gastrostomy-Jejunostomy/Gastric-Jejunal (GJ), Jejunostomy (J), Oral Gastric (OG)
- Explain how each type of tube is inserted and what type of care & maintenance each one requires.
Why do people need feeding tubes?
Explain several of the possible reasons such as:
- Prematurity
- Illness
- Weak swallowing muscles
- Severe food allergies
- Physical disabilities (inability to feed oneself)
- Cancer (including lack of ability or desire to eat due to effects of chemo/radiation as well as inability to eat due to having parts of GI tract removed because of cancer)
- Stroke or brain injury
How do you use a feeding tube?
List supplies needed to administer a feed:
- Extension set (tubing)
- Formula/blenderized food
- Syringe
- Feeding pump
- Feeding set for feeding pump (bag)
Explain different feeding methods:
- Feeding pump
- Bolus/gravity feeding via syringe
Frequently Asked Questions
- Does it hurt?
- How long will _______ need a feeding tube?
- Can he/she still play like other kids?
- Can he/she go swimming with the tube in?
- Can he/she eat food by mouth?
- Any other questions?
This is not an in-depth outline, but the details of the presentation will vary by audience. We chose to make our presentation very specific to our daughter and that worked very well for us. She was able to be there with us during the presentation and the kids were fascinated with her and her tubie. We showed pictures of our daughter with each type of tube, passed around (in sealed plastic bags) each of the tubes we talked about, showed them a doll with a G tube in it (Tubie Friends or Mini Buddy would be great for this purpose!), and brought all of the supplies we need for our daughter’s feeds (a can of formula, extension tubes, syringes, feeding pump & backpack, etc.) so that the kids could hold up each item as they talked about it.
My 7 and 9 year olds used a PowerPoint presentation for their classes and that worked really well for us. They did the entire presentation by themselves and I helped out with the Q&A session after they finished. I was floored by the thoughtful questions my daughter’s 3rd grade classmates came up with. Be prepared to answer questions!
Here is a link to our presentation, including PowerPoint slides and speaker notes.
GO BACK TO RAISING AWARENESS
