Woodburn Independent Online

Getting a grip on AD/HD

• By: Charissa Bernard 
• Published: 11/11/2009 10:28:42 AM

Special education teachers in the Gervais and North Marion school districts recently got the chance to expand their training portfolios through a program designed to help them think differently about attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). With AD/HD diagnoses on the rise nationally (up 3 percent annually between 1997 and 2006), Woodburn pediatrician Dr. Rick Steinberg and his wife, Harriet, are teaming up with Jodi Sleeper-Triplett, president of JST Coaching, and local teachers to make sure that schools are kept up to speed. The team recently offered a three-day training session to teachers in north Marion County school districts, which would teach new ways to reach out to students with AD/HD.
 
AD/HD is a condition affecting children and adults that is characterized by problems with attention, impulsivity, and overactivity. According to the National Resource Center on AD/HD, the disorder affects between 5-8 percent of school-age children and between 2-4 percent of adults. Over the years, the diagnostic label for this disorder has evolved. It has been known by several other names, including brain damaged syndrome, minimal brain dysfunction, hyperkinetic impulsive disorder and attention deficit disorder. Through the encouragement of the Steinbergs and Sleeper-Triplett, the Silverton School District applied for, and received, a grant from the Shire Corporation to be used to fund the training course for area schools. In order to fully fund the training, the group also received funding from the George E. Miller Foundation and Woodburn Pediatric Clinic, where Steinberg works.
 
With the funding in place, school districts were invited to take part and teachers from Silverton, North Marion and Gervais school districts jumped at the chance to get free AD/HD training Oct. 21-23.
 
“I decided to take part in the training because a lot of my student population is AD/HD,” said Gervais Middle School special education teacher Chris Williams.
 
The Gervais students are not unique in this fact, as seen in a September 2007 publication released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which states that there are 4.5 million children ages 3 to 17 (7 percent of this age group) with AD/HD.
 
During these three days of eight-hour training sessions, the teachers were taught about the latest AD/HD and autism research and then given the chance to practice those skills on each other.
 
“The biggest thing for me is to help them learn a new style of communicating one on one with the students, to help them empower the students, rather than telling them what to do,” said Sleeper-Triplett, who  headed up the training sessions. “It's really empowering for the students to feel like they have a choice in making some decisions for themselves and learning some responsibilities.”
 
For the teachers taking part in the training, the introduction to this new communication style opened their eyes to some areas of improvement in their classrooms.
 
“We, as teachers tend to tell (students) how to do it, but the coaching helps us re-phrase what is needed so that the students are making decisions with us,” said Gervais special education teacher Pam Vandecoevering. “If they feel in control, they will buy into doing school work.”
 
Harriet Steinberg, who worked as a registered nurse for over 20 years, has worked as a certified life coach for the past nine years. She is particularly interested in helping AD/HD clients because of her husband's practice and her three step-children who have been diagnosed with the disorder. After helping organize this training session for area teachers, Harriet said she was happy to see genuine interest in the educators.
 
“It's wonderful and so exciting because they are so enthusiastic about the training,” she said.
 
“They asked great questions, they are learning a lot, they are willing to practice and play and they are excited about doing it — they see the value in it.”
 
“With all the groups I work with, whether I'm traveling and doing it in person or in the tele-classes, this is a group that is committed to the students,” agreed Sleeper-Triplett, who teaches these courses across the country. “There wasn't a question in any of them about why we have to do this. … They were here because they wanted to be here, they want to work with these students.”
 
The teachers agreed that the course was well worth their time.
 
“The most important thing I learned from this training is the language needed to ask questions that elicit thoughtful responses from the students,” said Vandecoevering.
 
“I've done a lot of different workshops, and I've been to workshops that were such a waste,” Williams said. “This one was definitely not (a waste). I was just really impressed, totally impressed.”
 
Now that the initial training has been completed, Sleeper-Triplett will follow up with th seven teachers through five two-hour tele-classes, which will wrap up in December.
 
“They need to be back in the schools doing their work, and there's a real value in letting people get out there and start practicing, working with the kids,” Sleeper-Triplett said of the lapse in time. “It's great because we have experiential learning going on.”
 
In total, the teachers will be receiving 30 hours of training at no cost to the school districts. Potentially, the program also met requirements for continuing education credit through Willamette University, if the individual teacher wished to apply.

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