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Show to grab onto something like that and woe-be-unto the teacher who points out some problem areas to a parent who has seen it (the article, headline or cartoon). But far worse than any criticism she might suffer is what happens to the child if nothing is done about it We recognize the difference dif-ference between ADD and undisciplined un-disciplined behaviors. Jeanne Shelton Dauneen Abel Orchard Elementary teachers County applauds all Santa sponsors Editor: The Davis County Human Services Ser-vices Office would like to extend a heartfelt "thank you" to all who participated with the Davis County Sponsors for Santa program this season. A spirit of giving was cer-tainly cer-tainly felt from the community. Of the 348 eligible applicants, 261 families were matched with sponsors. spon-sors. Sponsors consisted of church congregations, school groups, private families, businesses, and community organizations. Bountiful Boun-tiful High School and Thiokol Corporation Cor-poration were among the major contributors. con-tributors. Sponsors were asked to provide a food box for Christmas dinner and at least one new toy item for each - child 17 years and younger. Many sponsors showed their generosity by addressing other needs such as clothing and shoes for those . families they sponsored. ri A new aspect of the Sponsors for Santa Program this year was the Holiday Co-op, a network of Christmas assistance programs. The Holiday Co-op, through the Ogden Salvation Army, provided a clearinghouse clear-inghouse to eliminate duplication of services. The Holiday Co-op and the communication among the various agencies contributed to the success of the program. In addition, cash donations from private individuals and toys provided provid-ed through Toys for Tots and the Layton ShopKo Store served many families. Food boxes were provided using food items donated through the Scouting for Food drive held in November. The Human Services Office considers con-siders this year's program a success based on many positive responses from sponsors and families receiving receiv-ing assistance. Davis County Human Services would like to express appreciation and best wishes for the coming year to all who gave of themselves this holiday season. Davis County Human Services Sponsors for Santa Committee Teachers don't prescribe Ritalin j Editor: I As elementary educators, we are I deeply concerned about the article I in the Clipper that had strong in- I sinuations that Utah educators are I responsible for an overwhelming 1 number of misdiagnosed ADHD I children in our schools. I In the first place, teachers do not I diagnose ADHD. Second, we are J not interested in "drugging our I children to get them to behave in j the class." Third, we are not shirk- J ing our responsibility to discipline 1 and manage the classroom envir- I onment. Fourth, we certainly are 1 not looking for "quick fixes" as I any teacher knows that "patience and long suffering" are two traits I elementary teachers exercise every I single day. I What we are interested and con- 1 cemed about are the children and how they feel about themselves; j their successes in school-both aca- I demic and social; the development, I of positive peer and adult relation- I ships; learning to love learning and I gaining a positive feeling about I school and the educational process; I and giving each child enough aca- I demic strengths to master certain I "aspects of the curriculum so they I V Iban function in life. I ADD children, with or without j hyperactivity, really have no control I over the way they are and they, 1 themselves, find it confusing to 1 understand why they are the way I they are, why they are having such a rd time getting along or why Jbcess in the classroom is so seldom theirs to enjoy. Now these children want desperately des-perately to be liked, to be suc- IcessfuL to have friends, to feel intelligent intel-ligent and important, to be able to manage their things and life, to be able to know for sure what is happening hap-pening and to be able to enjoy the process of learning and living. To cast blame on educators for Ck noticing these unusual behaviors, J for the parents to seek professional advice, for the physicians and psychiatrists to prescribe medica- tions when advisable is hardly being be-ing irresponsible. As educators we do not set ourselves up as physicians physi-cians to diagnose ADD. We are, however, with the child in learning-teaching learning-teaching situations five days a week for six and a half hours a day and we are observant We actually spend more awake hours in learning situations than many parents. These signs we see are warnings to us that these children are going to have a tough time in life if they don't get help. We are not seeking quiet, sterile classrooms where there are never any noises, never any communication com-munication between children, never any learning from peers, never any excitement, never any self-discoveries. self-discoveries. We are not interested in having little "drugged" robots sitting quietly at their desks doing searwork all day. As parents of ADD children ourselves, we know that the bottom line of ADD children who are not treated suffer irreparable damage to their self-esteem. Self-esteem is the number one key to success and if a child's self-esteem is destroyed or very low, their successes will also be far short of what they could have been. Medication can and often does mean the difference between life and death for some children. Maybe not literal death (although it could), but real, meaningful, happy, successful suc-cessful life. If a child is ADD, medication can mean the difference in positive self-esteem, success and happiness. If a child is ADD and not treated, the results can be and often are disastrous. No, our goal is not to medi-ate...our medi-ate...our goal is to educate. But if medication can help a child, if medication can make a difference, then the public should applaud a teacher who is smart enough to recognize rec-ognize the signs, brave enough to call it to the parents attention, responsible enough to assist the child in every way possible, sympathetic sym-pathetic enough to understand what the parents are going through and compassionate enough to feel what the child must be experiencing. It disturbs us greatly that irresponsible ir-responsible articles such as this are printed with such a negative headline (not to mention that terrible terri-ble cartoon). Often people are quick High praise for f Stewart's expertise ! Editor. Let's pause to praise a qualified leader in government, Mike Stewart. A select group of 50 r Americans spent time this month in Moscow advising Russian constitu- , tion writers. Mr. Stewart was in- L eluded because of his recognized expertise as a constitutional historian and his experience in making mak-ing government work at the local leveL He addressed a three-day conference, dealing with ways to establish es-tablish a governmental and grass roots framework to ensure democracy democ-racy in the former Soviet Union. This was the first significant discussion discus-sion of its kind following establishment estab-lishment of a Commonwealth of Independent In-dependent Republics. Mike's presentation to the Russians Rus-sians included some success stories he's had as a three-term Salt Lake County Commissioner. These included in-cluded how he saved money by privatizing a lot of government services ser-vices and by building the largest local government volunteer organization in the country. The 14,000-plus volunteers in Salt Lake County save taxpayers about $9 million every year. Since Mike Stewart is running for governor of the state of Utah (R), I think his activities are of interest in-terest to us all. Merrill Bailey |