Tuesday, October 21, 2003
By KRISTEN HOLLAND
The Dallas Morning News

Tucker Davison, 9, knows what to do to take care of his brain. "Don't do drugs," he said emphatically.

His classmates needed a little prompting, but their final answers - eat healthfully, exercise your mind and body, wear a seat belt and wear a helmet - were music to Nancy Theriot's ears because it means that the drug and alcohol education program she's piloting at Hyer Elementary School is at least catching their attention.

"I think it's really pretty practical," the counselor said about the program, titled Protecting You/Protecting Me. "They learn about their bodies; they learn about research. This fits right into our science TEKS [Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills]."

Developed by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Protecting You/Protecting Me is a 5-year drug- and alcohol-use prevention program designed for students in grades one through five. MADD launched the program in 1998.

All the elementary school counselors in Arlington, Irving, McKinney and Plano independent school districts have received the training to teach Protecting You/Protecting Me, but MADD officials don't know whether the program is in use in all the schools.

Named one of 56 model programs nationwide by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, the campaign is unlike previous drug education efforts in that the child, not the substance, is the focus.

"What we know from the prevention research is that if you want to prevent a behavior, then you need to start talking about this behavior five years before a student is going to be presented with that risk," said Kappie Bliss, program developer and director of Protecting You/Protecting Me. "You don't wait until they're 12 to talk."

Roughly 46,000 Texas first- through fifth-graders had Protecting You/Protecting Me last year, said Ms. Bliss, who's also the elementary program director for MADD.

The curriculum, which varies depending on the student's age, includes information about growth and development, rules and laws, health and safety, friends, media awareness and communication, and decisions.

There are a total of 42 lessons - eight for grades one through four and 10 for grade five. Each builds upon the last lesson and is age-appropriate.

"Lessons reinforce the fact that the brains of children and adolescents are different from the brains of adults and are subject to additional and different risks," Ms. Theriot wrote in a letter to all Hyer parents.

During her last visit to Kristen Conger's third-grade class, Ms. Theriot asked the third-graders to remind her what the back and front parts of the brain do and what distort means.

After rattling off answers, the students filled in a chart of things they've learned and want to learn between now and age 13.

The idea, she said, was to show the students that while they've already learned how to walk, talk and write, there are still many things to learn that would be really hard if drugs were in the picture.

"Drug use can cause your brain's message to be distorted," she told the class.

Unlike many older drug education programs, Protecting You/Protecting Me meets the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act.

"It's the first and only curriculum right now that is based on the latest brain research and the impact alcohol use has on the brain," Ms. Bliss said, explaining that programs must be evidence-based or science-based to meet the federal guidelines.

Though the curriculum brings up tough subjects, counselors say it's not over the top or too much, too soon for elementary-age kids. And it doesn't teach them that alcohol is bad.

"It's not telling kids never to drink," Ms. Theriot said. "It's saying that right now your brain is growing and developing. You don't want to do something that would distort it."

E-mail kholland@dallasnews.com or call 469-330-1617.