Posted October 17, 2002 

SAMHSA AWARDS GIVEN TO PATHS
(June 13, 2002) Maggie DeGregorio, Senior Director, Partnerships Group, 413-6665-7611, announced: “The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has recognized the PATHS program – the elementary school curriciulum shown to significantly improve children’s social and emotional skills - as one of only 25 programs to receive its “exemplary program” rating…This is the fourth federal agency to recognize the power of PATHS to promote social and emotional learning in American schools.” PATHS was co-developed by Mark T. Greenberg, PhD, Director, Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development, and holder of the Bennett Chair of Prevention Research at Pennsylvania State University, and Carol A. Kusche, Ph.D., Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Washington, Department of Psychology, faculty member at the Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute and the Northwest Center for Psychoanalysis, and also is in private practice.

MOUNTAIN PART RELIGIOUS SCHOOL SUED
(July 9, 2002) The St. Louis Post Dispatch reported a law suite against Mountain Park Boarding Academy in Missouri on behalf of an ex-student claiming the school "Uses Barbaric Discipline."

CORE HAS 2ND U.S. CONFERENCE ON RESIDENTIAL EDUCATION
(August 15, 2002) CORE: Coalition for Residential Education, Washington, DC, is pleased to invite you to participate in “Residential Education in the New Millennium: the 2nd U.S. Conference on Residential Education for Disadvantaged children and Youth”, taking place on October 20 –22, 2002. The Happy Hill Farm Academy/Home (HHFA) for formerly neglected and abused young people, located just outside of Dallas in Granbury, Texas, is proud to host the conference. “Founded in 1994, CORE’s mission is to promote residential education for youth whose homes or communities cannot sufficiently meet their needs, and to strengthen both individual programs and the field of residential education.”

BUM RAP FOR CHARTER SCHOOLS
(September, 2002) The Center for Education Reform, Washington, DC, 202-822-9000, reports, “A Michigan think tank released a study showing charter school students do actually gain more in achievement that traditional public school students.” The Mackinac Center found gains of 43 percent between 2000-2001, compared to only 10.1 percent for traditional public schools. Also, a new study in Texas showed “students are making gains but as a whole, the group of students who attend charters is likely to have lower performance going in. [www.tcer.org]

BOOMERANG BABIES - A RETURNING ISSUE
(September 13, 2002) Internet Wire, reports almost two-thirds of college graduates will be coming back home to stay. Called “boomerang babies”, some graduates are returning with $20,000 or more in student loan and credit card debt. The article also reported a MonsterTrak.com study showing 63% of this year's graduating seniors plan to live at home with their parents after college, with 22% planning to stay for more than a year. Financial writer Alan Feigenbaum, addresses this issue specifically in the book he co-authored with his high school age daughter, Gibora, A Parent's Guide to Money: Raising Financially Savvy Children, ISBN: 1-931199-19-1, available in bookstores, or through Parent's Guide Press, at 800-549-6646 or pr@marspub.com. The book emphasizes the importance of building financial responsibility and independence in children early so that they'll be more prepared for the work world and less likely to come back home to live. Michelle Singletary, Washington Post syndicated columnist, advised "setting up some ground rules now will make it less likely your boomerang baby never leaves the homestead."

RESOLUTION REPORTS FOUR DEATHS FROM ATTACHMENT THERAPY
(September 18, 2002) The Associated Press story carried in Spokane’s Spokesman-Review reports the House voted 397-0 to adopt a non-binding resolution, authored Rep. Sue Myrick, R.N.C. to condemn “rebirthing” as dangerous and harmful, urging every state to enact laws banning it. “The resolution said four other children have died from forms of attachment therapy.”

DRUG REVELATIONS FROM LISA MARIE PRESLEY
(September 20, 2002) World Entertainment News Network reports: “Actor Nicolas Gage’s his new wife, Lisa Marie Presley had drug problems that started when she got hooked on cocaine at 14. Desperate to turn her daughter away from drugs, Priscilla checked her into the Scientology Drug Rehab Programme, where Lisa Marie learned to leave her wild habits behind her and get on with life.”

TREATMENT FOR PRODROMAL PSYCHOSIS?
(October, 2002) Harvard Mental Health Letter reports some psychiatrists suggest starting treatment even before the first psychotic episode, since schizophrenic hallucinations and delusions usually appear only after a year or more of subtle deterioration. This “prodromal” period is characterized by “unusual perceptions; odd beliefs, behavior, and appearance; ideas of reference (a mild form of paranoia); loss of initiative; and social withdrawal.” Studies are underway that involve medicating adolescents with prodromal symptoms who have a family history of schizophrenia. Even more controversial is using drugs to forestall the onset of schizophrenia in high-risk people even before any prodromal or schizophrenia-like symptoms appear. A recent retrospective analysis of military tests taken by men 10 years prior to being diagnosed as schizophrenic, showed “strikingly lower scores on tests of social skills and executive function.” Yet, “surprisingly, so far antidepressants have been more effective than antipsychotic drugs” for people with symptoms that are warning signs for schizophrenia.

SCARSDALE’S HOMECOMING BINGE DRAWS ATTENTION NATIONWIDE
(October 7, 2002) Jane Gross reports for the New York Times, that “last month's homecoming bacchanal in Scarsdale, N.Y., left scores of students falling-down drunk, 27 with three-day school suspensions and five hospitalized with acute alcohol poisoning.” The Sept. 20 incident, drawing nationwide media attention and galvanizing school district and the village governments, motivated about 300 mothers and fathers to meet in the school auditorium to watch an excerpt from a film called "Dying High: Teens in the E.R." Michael V. McGill, school superintendent, said "We've invested more time and energy in drug and alcohol awareness than anyone I know…but it never seems to make a dramatic change…This issue most fundamentally has to be addressed in individual homes, by individual kids and individual families." Geraldine Greene, Executive Director of the Scarsdale Family Counseling Service, said “This community has high academic expectations for its children. Why can't it have behavioral expectations as well?" The article states, “children in competitive communities like Scarsdale are under enormous pressure to succeed. The measuring stick is admission to brand-name colleges, which leaves many destined to disappoint themselves or their parents and inclined to take refuge in alcohol or drugs. A school counselor said "nobody knows if [their suspensions] will be a decision factor in an unbelievably competitive college market, but that uncertainty might give educational value to the whole sordid episode.”

RISK AND RESILIENCE CONFERENCE
(October 9, 2002) A conference funded by SAMHSA, featuring leading researchers and practitioners, will focus on resilience-based assessment, prevention and intervention programs for youth at risk for social, emotional, and behavioral disorders. Sponsored by Judge Baker Children's Center and the Devereux Foundation, more information can be obtained from Paul LeBuffe at 610-542-3090, or http://riskandresilience.org.