S.T.A.R.S. Curriuculum Implementation in the MMSD

MMSD Health Services received a Healthy Classrooms Foundation Grant which allowed us to purchase the guidebook “S.T.A.R.S.: A Social Skills Training Guide for Teaching, Assertiveness, Relationship Skills, and Sexual Awareness” by Susan M. Heighway and Susan Kidd Webster for each school nurse in MMSD. The objective of the grant is help staff feel comfortable and knowledgeable when teaching sexuality education to students with developmental disabilites. The curriculum promotes self-esteem and self-awareness in children and adolescents with developmental disabilities, creating a foundation from which to teach about sexuality and relationships, with one of the major goals to prevent child abuse. Susan Heighway, one of the authors, came to a nurse’s staff development meeting in December to talk about the guidebook and how best to use it with students. Since that time, several nurses have used the curriculum with individual students and/or small groups of students. In addition, nurses have shared the guidebook with their special education colleagues so that they could also use the curriculum with their students with developmental disabilities as well. Overall, staff have found the guidebook to be very helpful in their work with students. Sally Zirbel-Donisch

That sounds like a great program. Congratulations on your success and dissemination of the program to others. Do you find that the students respond well to the content of the program?