March, 2010 (Vol. 14 #6) ENEWS is one of the many resources provided by the School Mental Health Project/Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA. This electronic newsletter is sent to those concerned with enhancing policies, programs, and practices related to addressing barriers to student learning and to promoting mental health in schools. For more on what our federally supported national Center offers, see http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu <><><><><><><><> We encourage you to forward this to others. If you have been forwarded this ENEWS and want to sign up to receive it directly, please let us know. Contact [email protected] <><><><><><><> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> WHAT’S HERE THIS MONTH **Emerging Concern: >How to organize and interpret youth subculture and groupings **News from around the country **Recent publications relevant to >Child and adolescent mental and physical health >School, family, & community >Policy, systems, law, ethics, finances & statistics **This month’s focus for schools to address barriers to learning >March – Reducing Stress: Preventing Burnout **Other helpful Internet resources **Links to >Upcoming initiatives, conferences & workshops >Upcoming and archived webcasts, vidoe, and online professional development >Calls for grant proposals, presentations & papers >Training and job opportunities **UCLA Center’s Latest Reports **Comments, requests, information, questions from the field <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Emerging Concern >How to Organize and Interpret Youth Subculture and Groupings What is referred to as "youth culture" is multifaceted and complex. The many subcultures often have differing values, beliefs, attitudes, and interests with respect to education, health, risky behaviors, and so forth. As examples, think about gangs, skateboarders, social-networkers, college prep, stoners, goths, hip hoppers, surfers, etc. As some of you know, our Center has begun to puzzle through all this to better understand the implications for public health and education policy makers, practitioners, researchers, and educators (see below*). As we proceed, our awareness of some basic issues is growing. It is clear that, from the perspective of enhancing cultural awareness, sensitivity, and competence, most professionals want to increase their understanding of youth subculture in order to promote healthy development and prevent and correct problems. However, issues arise when it comes to organizing and interpreting youth subgroup behaviors and underlying values, beliefs, attitudes, and interests. Related to this is the matter of how much to rely on observers' perceptions, definitions, and group labels (e.g., pregnant teens, substance abusers, depressed teens, etc.) and how much to work from the way youth define and label each other (e.g., preppy, punks, jocks, goths, etc.). In either case, there are concerns about overemphasizing negatives and risks, not acknowledging positives of subgroup participation, perpetuating stereotypes, and condoning actions that lead to status and power discrimination among youth subgroups. We have had good input from some colleagues and from our young adult advisors, and we want to take this opportunity to thank them. AND WE NEED MORE! Please share your wisdom and guidance. Send to [email protected] *As a first step, we are initiating a series of brief Information Resources entitled: Youth Subcultures: Understanding Subgroups to Better Address Barriers to Learning and Improve Schools. The first set of these is online at http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/qf/youthculture.htm Once we map out enough basics, we will try to develop of classification outline and do a policy and practice analysis to highlight issues and recommendations. ###################################### NEWS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY Maternal Antidepressants May Delay Infant Milestones Exposure to antidepressants in late pregnancy may affect children's developmental milestones, according to a study published online Feb. 22 in Pediatrics. Lars Henning Pedersen, M.D., of Aarhus University in Denmark, and colleagues analyzed Danish National Birth Cohort data on children born to 415 women who used antidepressant medications during pregnancy, 489 women who reported depression and no antidepressant use during pregnancy, and 81,042 women who reported no depression and no use of psychotropic medication. Compared to children not exposed to antidepressants, they found that sitting and walking were delayed by 15.9 and 28.9 days, respectively, in those with second- or third-trimester exposure to antidepressants, but that these milestones were still achieved within the normal range of development. They also found that second- or third-trimester exposure to antidepressants was associated with a lower likelihood of sitting without support at age 6 months and self-occupation at age 19 mths. (HealthDay News, http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=news&id=126099&cn=5) Success with “hard cases” Interventions at critical stages can make a differences, especially during early childhood. But even for those who fall between the cracks, some interventions can be effective even as late as the teens and early 20s. Turning points and factors found to be key: maturity, parenthood, employment, feeling valued in the community and being removed from the negative environment. 2/22/10 http://www.chicagotribune.com Teachers won’t be forced into most troubled schools anymore Veteran Denver teachers who can’t find a job in the district won’t be assigned to the city’s most troubled schools. The Superintendent stated that to forcibly place teachers who do not want to be at a particular school or are not being asked to teacher there undermines the formation and development of a successful shared culture. 2/6/10 http://www.denverpost.com Obama Administration Issues Rules Requiring Parity in Treatment of Mental, Substance Use Disorders The Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and the Treasury has jointly issued new rules providing parity for consumers enrolled in group health plans who need treatment for mental health or substance use disorders. U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis stated that the “rules will bring needed relief to families faced with meeting the cost of obtaining mental health and substance abuse services.”The new rules prohibit group health insurance plans from restricting access to care by limiting benefits and requiring higher patient costs than those that apply to general medical or surgical benefits. The rules implement the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA). (News Release – http://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/advisories/1001291131.aspx ) Lawmakers to launch bipartisan effort to rewrite No Child Left Behind In a joint statement leaders announced effort to rewrite No Child Left Behind will start with a series of hearings. Many educators are disenchanted with the law because it has led to thousands of school being labeled as falling short of standards. But backers say the law has put an unprecedented spotlight on struggling schools and disparities in performance among groups of students sorted by race, ethnicity, family incomes and other factors. 2/18/10 http://www.washingtonpost.com “Fun” classes sneak in fundamentals Increasingly, schools use music, art and other electives to teach kids the basics. The ‘fun’ classes can help make tough concepts easier to understand. These teachers can also help kids see that math and science have real-life applications. Electives teachers are glad some other educators have begun to appreciate their contributions to student achievement. But the focus on math and science is very much about survival for electives teachers. 2/14/10. Http://www.orlandosentinel.com Wi-Fi turns rowdy bus into rolling study hall Students endure hundred of hours on yellow buses each year getting to and from school. Stir-crazy teenagers break the monotony by teasing, texting, flirting, shouting, climbing over seats, and sometimes punching. In Arizona school officials mounted a mobile Internet router to enable students to surf the Web. Wi-Fi access has transformed what was often a boisterous bus ride into a rolling study hall and behavior problems have virtually disappeared. Revising the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) The eagerly awaited revisions to be published in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders would be the first in a decade. Some proposed changes include folding the diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome into a broader category, autism spectrum disorder. One significant change would be adding a childhood disorder called temper dysregulation disorder with dysphoria, a recommendation that grew out of recent findings that many wildly aggressive, irritable children who have been given a diagnosis of bipolar disorder do not have it. 2/10/10 http://www.nytimes.com Comments on the proposed revisions are being solicited. Go to http://www.dsm5.org/Pages/Default.aspx @#@# Quote from the above article on the DSM revision: “Anything you put in that book, any little change you make, has huge implications not only for psychiatry but for pharmaceutical marketing, research, for the legal system, for who’s concerned to be normal or not, for who’s considered disabled. And it has huge implications for stigma because the more disorders you put in, the more people get labels, and the higher the risk that some get inappropriate treatment.” Dr. Michael First, Columbia University @#@# Note: