RESISTANCE TRAINING TEACHES TEACHERS TO SHOW KIDS HOW TO REJECT DRUGS

RAPID CITY - In communities throughout South Dakota, adolescents are using
tobacco, drugs and alcohol more often than the national average, a study
shows.

And the decisions to use substances are made by younger and younger
children, not only in inner cities and metropolitan areas but also in South
Dakota's small towns, hamlets and rural areas, according to the 2003 South
Dakota Youth Risk Behavior Survey and the program director at Youth & Family
Services' Western Prevention Resource Center in Rapid City.

The center's Chris Bolton said that although people assume a rural state
would avoid problems with substance abuse, that's not the case.

"Marijuana is the prevalent drug of choice," he said. "It's not uncommon.
It's across the state, and it's a problem everywhere."

The survey revealed that 15 percent of South Dakota students in grades 9-12
had used chewing tobacco or snuff during the 30 days before taking the
survey, compared to 6.7 percent nationally. The study found 38 percent of
students reported having five or more drinks of alcohol in a row on one or
more of the past 30 days. Nationally, the percentage is 28.3.

"That's why it's so important to introduce preventative training at this
time," Bolton said.

To help young people choose a substance-free lifestyle, a two-day drug
education training session this week introduced elementary and middle-school
teachers to a drug resistance curriculum.

The LifeSkills program is taught in schools as a part of a health core
curriculum with 10 to 18 lessons. Certified LifeSkills trainers Marilyn
Jensen of Beresford and Shawnie Rechtenbaugh of Watertown taught 28 school
teachers, counselors and health officials not only the statistics but also a
variety of ways for children to avoid using tobacco, drugs or alcohol when
confronted with the choice.

"We want to help kids make their lives better," Jensen said.

The core of the training is resistance education, Jensen said. The goal is
that when someone offers a cigarette or alcohol to a child, that child will
have an arsenal of skills to reinforce his or her refusal. The refusals, not
the undesirable behavior, are what the trainers practice with the audience.

The trainers emphasize the importance of modeling assertive behavior --
making eye contact, speaking in a firm voice and using body language, with
shoulders straight and squared.

"Research shows that knowledge alone does not change behavior," Jensen said.
"They have to practice making good decisions."

Secrecy, empathy and peer pressure can pull youths into an illicit culture,
and only a child's steadfast refusal, practiced and consistently modeled,
can help when confronted by older peers or family, the educators were told.

Skills modeled by the teacher can help students make better decisions,
Jensen said.

Rechtenbaugh said some kids enter society without ever having seen those
skills modeled.

"Through the training, students will learn how to be assertive rather than
passive or aggressive when they come into a situation," Retchenbaugh said.

Julie Cudmore of Spearfish has no doubt that the training will enhance her
students' lives and benefit the community.

Cudmore, 43, works at Black Hills Special Services Cooperative in Sturgis
and has taught school for 13 years.

"It's so hard to change behaviors," she said. "If we can do preventative
activities now when students are 10, 11 and 12 years old, it will be so much
easier than when they're older."

The money society spends to prevent drug addiction, alcoholism and tobacco
use is a fraction of what is spent for intervention, recovery and
rehabilitation, she said.

"It is better spent here than further down the road," Cudmore said. "These
skills will help them all through their lives."