Sophie’s Story: Writing for Young Diabetics

Having been a type 1 diabetic nearly my entire life, I was inspired to write a children’s book for diabetics age six and under. This age group is seeing the largest rise in type 1 diagnoses but most of the related education materials are focused on parents. My goal is to engage the children in their own diabetes care, help them identify tools they can use to manage their diabetes, as well as provide them a protagonist with whom they can relate. Here, you can see the cover to book I wrote and illustrated, called Sophie’s Low Blood Sugar, as well as the storyboards I drafted during the creation process. You will also see page three from the book, depicting the tools diabetics need on a regular basis. The last image is a photo of the printed books and accompanying surveys prior to distribution. On this page, you will also find two video time-lapses of me creating the illustrations for the book. This book is currently being distributed in pediatric endocrinologist’s office in Des Moines, Iowa, to diabetics under the age of six

UI Scientists in the Classroom

UI Scientists in the Classroom was created to better connect with our community by bringing scientists and students from the University of Iowa into the classrooms of area elementary and middle schools. Professor Emily Finzel provided a model by which these interactions would take place, and this spring our group put this idea into practice with the teachers at Lucas Elementary in Iowa City. During a two visit series, our group went into two different classrooms to interact with the students. The first meeting involved the introduction of the visiting student researchers and their research projects followed by a discussion about the current topic that was being covered in the school\u27s curriculum. The next day, we returned to do an interactive activity with the students in order to better cement the concepts we had covered the previous day while allowing engagement that hopefully made the children better appreciate the aspects of science which are difficult to encompass in traditional curriculums. This collaboration hopes to offer a model for future programs to follow in regards to how to implement simple university engagement and outreach seamlessly into a school\u27s ongoing teaching system

Story Board 2

Image part of Sophie\u27s Story: Writing for Young Diabeticshttps://ir.uiowa.edu/ideal_latham_images/1100/thumbnail.jp

Page 3: Sophie\u27s Story

Image part of Sophie\u27s Story: Writing for Young Diabeticshttps://ir.uiowa.edu/ideal_latham_images/1098/thumbnail.jp

Cover: Sophie\u27s Blood Sugar

Image part of Sophie\u27s Story: Writing for Young Diabeticshttps://ir.uiowa.edu/ideal_latham_images/1097/thumbnail.jp

Sophie\u27s Low Blood Sugar

Having been a type 1 diabetic nearly my entire life, I was inspired to write and illustrate a children’s book for diabetics age six and under called ‘Sophie’s Low Blood Sugar’. This age group is seeing the largest rise in type 1 diagnoses but most of the related education materials are focused on parents. My goal is to engage type 1 diabetic children in their own diabetes care, help them identify tools they can use to manage their diabetes, as well as provide them a protagonist with whom they can relate

Story Board 1

Image part of Sophie\u27s Story: Writing for Young Diabeticshttps://ir.uiowa.edu/ideal_latham_images/1099/thumbnail.jp

Sophie\u27s Story Infographic

Image part of Sophie\u27s Story: Writing for Young Diabeticshttps://ir.uiowa.edu/ideal_latham_images/1156/thumbnail.jp

The Digestive System Experiment: Excretion of Waste

We then snipped the bottom of the pantyhose, where the food had accumulated, into plastic bowls. This represented the act of excreting waste and thus ending the digestion process. Image part of UI Scientists in the Classroom.https://ir.uiowa.edu/ideal_latham_images/1159/thumbnail.jp

Summarizing the Experiment

The 5th grade students eagerly raise their hands as Cassandra Poulos leads them through Follow Up Questions to identify what each item represented in the Digestive System. Image part of UI Scientists in the Classroom.https://ir.uiowa.edu/ideal_latham_images/1161/thumbnail.jp