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52 - CAPE GAZETTE, Friday, Jan. 19 - Jan. 25, 2001
SCHOOIL EDUCATION
Jim Cresson photo
Families and Schools Together (FAST) was launched recently during training sessions for
parent coordinators, teachers and counselors. Lisa Brown, standing, gave one group a run-
down of the program activities at H.O. Brittingham Elementary School, Jan. 13.
FAST bri gs f00milies, stuclents together
By Jim Cresson
Families play a key role in children's education,
and Cape Henlopen School District is launching a
program to fortify that essential component of stu-
dent achievement.
Families and Schools Together (FAST) - which
vill premiere an eight-week course in March - focus-
es on parenting skills, aimed at all socio-economic
levels, in an effort to empower parents to help them
increase student achievement.
Teachers from each school, mental health coun-
selors and drug awareness counselors assembled at
H.O. Brittingham Elementary School in Milton, Jan.
12-13, for training sessions to familiarize themselves
with the objectives and methods of the FAST pro-
gram.
Idola Williams, an H.O. Brittingham teacher,
explained the FAST methods as "using togetherness
in family conversation and activities to bring more
unity to a family and to empower parents to help
their children increase student achievement."
Jacqueline Artis, Title 1 coordinator at the elemen-
tary school, said the initial FAST course will be
offered at H.O. Brittingham school beginning March
13.
Classes will be held each Tuesday from 5:30-8
p.m. Parents will graduate during a formal cap and
gown ceremony, Tuesday, May 8.
Some students will be chosen to participate and
bring their parents and siblings. There will be chil-
dren's activities while the parents are in group train-
ing sessions.
For more information, call H.O. Brittingham prin-
cipal Dr. Wayne Whaley at 684-8522.
Academy of Lifelong
Learning welcomes
10 new instructors
The University of Delaware's
Southern Academy of Lifelong
Learning (SDALL) in Lewes wel-
comes 10 new instructors and 16
new courses this spring semester.
Among them is. I)r. Winfried Mroz
of Dover who will be teaching a
history of German resistance
between 1933 and 1945 called
"Plotting Hitler's Death."
Mroz, an obstetrician-gynecolo-
gist for 33
years, spent his
early teen years
in the eastern
German town of
Schneidermuehl
during World
War II, narrow-
ly escaping mil-
itary draft as the
war ended. His lVIROZ
university and medical education
were undertaken in postwar
Germany.
On a Rotary-sponsored trip to
the United States in 1954, he met
his future wife, an American who
had been trapped with relatives in
Nazi Germany during the war
years. Last fall, Mroz hosted a
reunion of several east German
classmates who had lived through
those terrible war years with him
and are preparing oral history
accounts of the horrific events of
the war and Russian occupation
that followed. Mroz's course will
concentrate on plots against the
Hitler regime by student move-
ments, political parties, the church
and the military.
Mroz and his wife, Dr. Edith
Mroz, a retired Delaware State
University professor who teaches
literature courses at SDALL, rais-
es horses on a farm outside Dover.
They are members of the Dover
Early Music Consort and were
cofounders of the Dover English
Country Dancers.
SDALL, where both will teach
when new classes start in
February, is located in Lewes and
offers noncredit courses in art,
history, literature, social issues
and recreation for those 50 and
older.
Other new instructors being
welcomed to SDALL this spring
include journalist Murray Seeger,
Washington and European corre-
spondent for "Newsweek" and the
"L.A. Times," who will teach
Mass Media and Society;
University of Maryland's Louis
DeCatur with Chinese Literature;
management consultant Russ
Notar's Comedy in Film; and for-
eign service wife and teacher
Nancy Shobe's Literature
Roundtable with Cultural
Content. There are also many new
art and music offerings.
Registration is now underway; for
more information, call 645-41 ! 1.
Some facts about mental retardation
In this age of politically correct
terms, the label "mentally retard-
ed" sounds negative and dated.
For school purposes this category
still exists to describe a student
with a low level of functioning.
Retard means slow.
All school-aged children know
the term. You can hear them call
each other retarded or "tard" all
the time. "Hey look at Herman,
with that haircut, he's so retard-
ed!" Retarded in this context just
means different or unusual.
Retarded in school is a special
education term that means a stu-
dent has the intellectual function-
ing of 50-75. This number is
derived from an IQ test. Retarded
students also exhibit significant
limitations in two or more adap-
tive skill areas and the condition is
present from childhood. Adaptive
skills are skills needed to live,
work and play in the community
SCH00L JOURNAL
i
DIANE ALBANESE
such as self-care, home living,
social skills, leisure, health and
safety, self-direction, functional
academics and work.
Testing for mental retardation is
usually done by a team of experts,
sometimes including a psycholo-
gist, an occupational therapist, an
educational diagnostician and per-
haps a social worker depending
on the state program. The team
will develop a profile of the stu-
dent, including intellectual and
adaptive behavior skills, psycho-
logical and emotional considera-
tions, physical and health consid-
erations, and environmental con-
siderations. Interviews and obser-
vations are an important part of
the entire profile. An interdisci-
plinary team determines level of
functioning and appropriate edu-
cation based on the outcome of
the tests.
One out of every 10 American
families is directly affected by
mental retardation. In 1990 the
census revealed that an estimated
6.2 to 7.5 million people have
mental retardation, about 3 per-
cent of the population regardless
of race, ethnic educational, social
or economic background.
Mental retardation can be
caused by any condition, which
impairs development of the brain
before birth, during birth and dur-
ing childhood. Causes for mental
retardation include genetic condi-
tions, problems during pregnancy,
problems at birth, childhood dis-
eases that lead to meningitis and
encephalitis, and childhood mal-
nutrition. Three major causes of
mental retardation are Down syn-
drome, fetal alcohol syndrome
and fragile X, a genetic disorder.
A good source of information
about mental retardation can be
found on the Internet at The Arc
website, http://thearc.org. The
Arc of the Ui:ed 8tares is the
nation's leading national organiza-
tion on mental retardation and
represents over seven million
children and adults with mental
retardation. The Arc has over
140,000 members within approxi-
mately 1,000 state and local chap-
ters nationwide.
According to researchers, there
have been many significant
advances made in the past 30
years to prevent mental retarda-
tion. These include medical and
dietary treatment, newborn
screening, and vaccinations for
Hib, rubella and measles.
Removing lead from the environ-
ment and widespread use of child
safety seats are also effective in
prevention.
In the future, more research into
genetics, fetal treatment and
development of the nervous sys-
tem should offer new hope for
parents and families looking for
answers.
Diane Albanese is a parent and
teacher in the Cape Henlopen
School District.