The Idaho State Department of Education, HIV Prevention Program has provided trainings addressing sexual health for vulnerable populations through the Special Ed. FLASH (Family Life and Sexual Health) curriculum. The following was an e-mail sent from a district administrator who attended our preconference sexual health workshop at the Idaho Conference for Exception Children.
I’ll be very honest with you about some of the issues facing students on IEPs in my district this year. Some of the terrible things that have occurred include rape, abduction/rape (as a result on social networking gone bad), prostitution, and sexual abuse by family members. We have students for whom I am afraid may be victimized, even repeatedly victimized. We have students expressing questions and insecurities about their own sexuality and social skills around their sexuality (what is acceptable; appropriate; necessary, etc.). We have girls getting pregnant and then faced with hard decisions about what to do. We have students who may or may not have the skills to be able to make healthy decisions regarding sexuality.
This also sparked an additional district wide special ed training in the largest school district in Idaho which has a policy to team teach sexual health in special ed. with the health education teacher and the school nurse. Both attended the training and spoke of the challenges just in the classroom with appropriate sexual behaviors and the concerns for student safety outside of the classroom. Parents who identify their youth as at risk are great supporters of sexual health education because they have so many other needs to address for the child.
We identify this as a population at risk. The trainings were provided in collaboration with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program who provided funding for curriculum.
Lisa Kramer
lkramer@sde.idaho.gov
www.sde.idaho.gov
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