“Teachers are reporting increased participation and attention from students and a dramatic increase in endurance,” said principal Nikki Westfall. “Our families are happier too. They are reporting much less stressful mornings.”

The in-class breakfast model is not new to the state, or even the metro area, but Colorado is trying to expand it through the No Kid Hungry campaign, which includes an awards program for schools that serve breakfast to more kids.

At Clayton, breakfast participation in 2011 reached about 90 percent of students, with an average of 405 breakfasts served daily, up from about 91 breakfasts served per day in April 2010.

That increase earned the school a Gold award in the Colorado School Breakfast Challenge.

The award, which came with a $5,000 gift, was presented by Lt. Gov. Joe Garcia on Tuesday.

Besides knowing more kids have had breakfast, and using anecdotal data to monitor classroom behaviors, Clayton officials compared data from August through December in 2010 and 2011 and found that student tardies dropped by 15 percent. Discipline referrals dropped by 50 percent.

Officials working throughout the state as consultants to help schools find grants and change their breakfast programs have noticed similar results.

“When schools move to a universal breakfast program, we have seen it removes the stigmas associated with eating breakfast. School nurse visits and behavioral problems drop,” said Kathy Underhill, executive director of Hunger Free Colorado, one of the organizations supporting the No Kid Hungry project.

Underhill said programs also are trying to serve healthier foods.

At Clayton, kids get a piece of fruit, a carton of milk and an entree such as a nutrition bar or cereal bar.

Westfall said she plans to use the award money to develop health-and-wellness classes that can be tied to the breakfast program. Some of the funds will also be used to purchase additional insulated food bags and carts so that when the school expands by a grade level next year, those kids could also eat breakfast in class.

The program’s startup cost came from about $6,000 in grants, a sum managers say is an investment that pays off in real dollars and in student outcomes.

“I’m a big believer that if we’re serious about ed reform, we will have to look at making sure children are fed,” Underhill said. “It’s not an either/or. If you have not eaten, your mind is not there in the classroom.”

Yesenia Robles

Know the benefits. Exercising soon after childbirth is primarily good for mental health—possibly guarding against post-partum depression—not for shedding baby weight. So do what feels good, not anything exhausting. Note: Walking after a caesarian also reduces the risk of rare but dangerous blood clots in the legs.

Listen to your body. If you’re feeling well, a low-intensity workout such as a 30-minute walk is fine within days of a vaginal or caesarian delivery. But don’t try to push through pain caused by tears or scars from childbirth.

Don’t worry about specific goals. You may get discouraged if you don’t hit a certain length or pace right away.

Gradually build intensity. About two or three weeks after delivery, workouts that are safe for late in pregnancy generally are fine again: moderate aerobics, light resistance exercises, modified push-ups or whatever else your doctor greenlights.

Follow post-caesarian rules. For the first six weeks or until cleared by your doctor, avoid exercises that put direct strain on your incision. That includes sit-ups, stair-steppers or lifting weights heavier than 25 pounds; some doctors recommend lifting nothing heavier than your baby.

Work around breastfeeding. Nursing mothers need more fluids to prevent dehydration, so drink plenty of water before, during and after workouts. To avoid breast discomfort, try to nurse or pump shortly before exercising — and invest in a good sports bra.

-Alison Johnson, Daily Press (Newport News, Va.)

It’s confusing. Kind like all the conflicting studies about coffee – or red wine. (I know how I choose to interpret them…)

Does healthy school food make a difference? Or doesn’t it?

Should we just keep healthy food on the lunch tray (read all about the Obama administration’s changes to subsidized school meals announced this week) and not worry about vending machines?

These are potentially costly tweaks to our state’s cafeteria and vending machine food to make at a time when there are so many other competing needs in our classrooms.

My daughter, a fourth-grader in a Boulder Valley school, won’t touch the food at school, even though our very own “renegade lunch lady” Ann Cooper has transformed the nutritional quality of lunches in our school district.

Still, a sizable number of children do eat food at school. And despite the image of Colorado as a fitness paradise, 14.2 percent of our children and adolescents are technically obese, meaning they have a much higher risk for a range of diseases that will shorten their lives.

For some of our children, school provides a primary source of nourishment each day.

Why school food matters

The food our children eat – or even simply look at – at school does have an impact.

Face it. School isn’t just about academics – it’s about helping young people make good choices. Recycling is good. Tossing trash in the street is bad. Smoking is really nasty. Not smoking equates to nice, healthy pink lungs. Being respectful to others is good. Being a bully gets you sent to the principal. You get the drift.

With all the research now in hand, it’s hard to argue that Coca Cola or French fries have any place at school. And, in many cases, Colorado schools have already banished these nutritionally negligent foods.

Whether we need a new state law to limit trans fats, including foods made with margarine or vegetable shortening, should be debated. In light of the new, watered down school food guidelines announced this week, Colorado should step up to do more.

You may recall that Congress – bowing to industry pressure – failed to approve the revised school food rules as they were originally drafted. The original revisions would have limited the amount of potatoes consumed in school lunch (Tater Tots, anyone?) and not counted tomato paste on pizza as a vegetable. As it stands, kids in some districts will still be able to mack down on Fries at every meal. Yet a key question remains: Who will be the designated trans fat cop? If food cooked with margarine is discovered, does the school cook get time in French fry jail?

Regardless of what happens on the federal or state level, schools and districts should embrace these changes on their own, working closely with parents and students in their own communities.

Kids are shaped by what they see. Isn’t it better that they see popcorn, granola bars or fruit in a vending machine vs. potato chips and candy?

The evidence is certainly clear. The consumption of trans fats increases the risk of coronary heart disease by raising levels of LDL cholesterol and lowering levels of “good” HDL cholesterol. We don’t want that for our kids.

Why we can ignore the Penn State study

So, I don’t choose to give that much weight to a recent Penn State study, which found that the percentage of children who had access to candy, soda and chips at school jumped dramatically between fifth and eighth grades yet didn’t translate into extra pounds.

Interestingly, the New York Daily News reported that the percentage of students in the survey who were overweight or obese actually declined between fifth and eighth grades.

The surprised researcher concluded that how kids eat outside and at home has a much greater impact than their exposure to high-fat or sugary snacks in school.

This, of course, makes total sense. But are we better off reinforcing unhealthy eating habits at school, or showing young people there are different – and better – ways to eat?

I’ll argue the latter.

Find more news and information on healthy schools in Colorado and beyond here.

EdNews Parent editor Julie Poppen is a former daily newspaper journalist who has covered a multitude of school issues in Fort Collins, Boulder and Denver. She is also the mother of a fourth grader in Boulder Valley and regular, though not always perfectly proficient, classroom volunteer. Read her weekly blog Confessions of a Partially Proficient Parent.

At this point, I’d gone part time at my job. To be honest, it sucked. I loved my job. I loved my team, the challenges, the intellectual curiosity, the energy…everything. The decision to go part-time was a joint decision between my boss and myself. Once he settled into his job (he was hired a few months after me) we began to realize there was a ton of overlap in our responsibilities. Plus, there was the whole Z thing, which completely distracted me from performing my best at my job and took the passion out of me. Even when I was there, I wasn’t really there. So, instead of waiting for them to let me go, I proactively went to him and we decided on a transition plan. I went part-time for 6 weeks to finish up some projects and then I was done. Again, it wasn’t ideal….none of this was for me…but it was the right thing to do.

Soon after I left, we went to Florida for a little vacation. It was a blast. The kids had a wonderful time playing on the beach and in the sun. It was SO great to be on a relaxing vacation. J and I kept commenting on how much we all needed it. Z even seemed to be thriving even though it was a new environment, lots of people, etc. I guess running all day on the beach can wear even the most sensory seeking kiddo.

When we came home, Z had his final screening (ADOS). The psychologist called me later that afternoon to tell me the results. The ADOS scores on two fronts: communication (pragmatic) and reciprocal social interaction. The cutoff for communication is 5, Z scored 5. The cutoff for reciprocal social interaction is 6, Z scored 8. In order to receive a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, the aggregate score needs to be above a score of 12. Z had an aggregate score of 13.

Next step was to have an IEP meting with the school district. I won’t bore you with ALL the details of that 4+ hr meeting. We discussed his strengths. He’s extremely intelligent. He scored above average or advanced on all cognitive rating scales. His motor skills were great. His communication was very good…except for the pragmatic kind (the give and take in conversations). We discussed his challenges. He’s not truly social. He wants to be but doesn’t know how to be. And, if he does play with another kid, he has to control everything or he loses it or walks away. He has intermittent eye contact. He takes inappropriate risks. He has his own agenda and has a tough time doing things if he doesn’t want to. He has difficulty following instructions….unless it’s something he wants to do. He has difficulty with transitions….unless it’s something he wants to do.

The bottom line was Z exhibited “behaviors consistent with the diagnosis of high functioning autism” and qualified for a half day Developmental Delay IEP with related services of 30 minutes of speech therapy once a month. Right….what the heck does that mean? It meant that the county saw that there was enough of a concern in his behavior that they wanted to put him in a special ed class with other kids that had some sort of developmental delay. Chances were, all the kids would be like Z…high functioning but not quite ready for mainstream.

And that’s when the real work began. Now that we had the diagnosis, we wanted to know what else was out there. What other private services/schools/options did we have? Was his school assignment and teacher assignment the right one? Did we want to accept what the public school system had offered us? We thought so….but…we wanted to research all our options. Did we want him to be in a class with all kids with developmental delays? Wouldn’t it challenge him more and help him more if there were some kids that were typically developing?

I started doing research on area preschools that had a lean towards kids with developmental delays. First stop was a 45-minute drive from our house, but who cared, right? If this was the right place for Z, I’d do it. Let me say that for the kids this school caters to, it’s a fabulous facility. It was also for much lower functioning kids. I called J practically in tears and said, “How can they say Z’s got the same label as these kids?!” As I mentioned before, it’s a good thing Z’s so complex….he’s not slam dunk autistic. He’s extremely high functioning. And extremely intelligent. Both of which are strengths that can easily be built upon in the right setting.

My next stop was also 45 minutes away but a much different school. And, I fell in love. It was a full-day inclusion school. The staff was amazing. The kids looked like they were having a great time. Exactly what I wanted. And they even had a classroom for younger kids so maybe S & Z could go to school together?

Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one who loved the school; the waitlist was a mile long.

After that, there were countless emails/phone calls/internet searches learning about other school options in the area. None of them were *quite* right. Then, Z’s speech therapist informed me that there was a preschool that was 10 minutes away from us that was founded on an inclusion basis. It was perfect! Z could go there 5 days a week, S could go 2 days (giving me a MUCH needed break) and we’d still have time for additional therapy in the afternoons.

All set, right?!?

Until…..

Stay tuned for our next installment from guest blogger Rebecca. She lives in Denver where she spends her days wrangling two kids, a dog and a husband, working part time and enjoying Colorado as much as possible. She even manages to eek out some time to write in her blog, MBA Mommy where she talks about, you guessed it, wrangling 2 kids, a dog and a husband, working part-time and enjoying Colorado as much as possible! Photo

What are the pros and cons of humidifiers?
Humidifiers can help add moisture to dry living spaces, which can be uncomfortable for children. However, “white dust,” a substance left behind by ultrasonic (or “cool mist”) humidifiers, has been linked to inhalation lung damage in children. This is according to a study by Robin Deterding, MD, professor of pediatrics and Director of the Breathing Institute at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

What does “white dust” do?
“The white dust minerals are small enough to be inhaled and deposited into lungs, and they can cause problems in children,” Dr. Deterding said. “If you see the dust, people who are in the room with the humidifier are inhaling it.”

What are the dos and don’ts of using humidifiers?
Humidifiers aren’t all bad. Take these precautions when deciding to place one in your home:
• Clean your humidifier daily to avoid mineral buildup and growth of microorganisms.
• Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for proper cleaning and usage.
• Test-run your humidifier and look for white dust before placing it in your child’s room.
• Don’t use it in a closed room, and instead leave a door or window open.
• Don’t use tap water, which contains minerals that can be emitted as white dust. Use distilled water instead.

What’s the best humidifier to buy?
Check with your pediatrician to see which kind of humidifier or vaporizer they recommend. Dr. Deterding suggests warm vaporizers, but be sure to put it in a place where kids will not be in danger of burning themselves from the steam.

Learn more about Children’s Colorado.

My wife was in the recovery room at Penrose Community Hospital in Colorado Springs, having delivered our first child, a daughter who came early and under emergency conditions.

Behind drawn curtains in the crowded recovery room, we watched a video I had just shot of our baby in the neonatal intensive care unit when the doctor who performed the delivery nervously approached.

Standing just outside the curtain, the doctor changed our lives.

“We believe your baby has Down syndrome,” she said.

“I’m so sorry.”

The perfect baby we were expecting now was gone. We didn’t know much about Down syndrome but soon realized the world was looking at us and our baby differently.

Instead of congratulations, we were told, “I’m so sorry.” In place of flowers and balloons, the hospital sent a chaplain. We were given outdated material about the genetic condition and didn’t know what to expect next.

Still don’t.

Eight years later, Abigail Anna Meyer is a beautiful and lively second-grader who is popular, funny and fully included in her classroom. She is sometimes confounding, sometimes difficult, but show me an 8-year-old who is not. She is not the same as her peers or her younger sisters. She has medical issues, and learns and speaks differently. But she is just as her name means in Hebrew: her father’s joy.

My wife and I chose not to do prenatal testing. The invasive amniocentesis test involves sticking a long needle into the womb to remove a small amount of fluid to screen for a variety of birth defects. The test also carries a risk of miscarriage.

Today, a new test has been introduced that advocates believe marks a turning point for Down syndrome. Two months ago, the California-based company Sequenom introduced the first-ever noninvasive blood screen for Down syndrome in 20 cities, including Denver’s Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center. The company says the screen can be administered 10 weeks into pregnancy, is 99 percent accurate and costs $235 (with insurance).

Down syndrome, which has been a part of the human condition as long as babies have been born, is now at a crossroads.

Some believe the test will lead to a drastic reduction in the number of babies born with the genetic condition. This is happening at the same time as researchers believe drug therapies to treat some of the cognitive delays associated with Down syndrome are within their grasp.

Advocates worry fewer babies born with Down syndrome could mean less support for those living with the condition. Ultimately, that could mean less funding for research trying to help those who are here.

“I do feel like I am in a race against time,” said Michelle Whitten, executive director of the Global Down Syndrome Foundation, one of the leading fund-raisers for Down syndrome research.

Whitten — who is a friend and whose 8-year-old daughter has Down syndrome — worked with her parents, Anna and John J. Sie, to create the nation’s first medical and research institute for Down syndrome at the University of Colorado.

“Can organizations work fast enough to get the National Institute of Health​ funding to counterbalance what may happen as a result of this test?” she asked.

Studies estimate 92 percent of women who get a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome terminate their pregnancies. The new test is easier, can be done earlier and carries no risk of miscarriage. Now, only 2 percent of women test for Down syndrome with invasive tests. That percentage will surely rise.

Alberto Costa, an associate professor at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, has been working for more than a decade on finding ways to improve cognition in people with Down syndrome. He also has a teenage daughter with the condition.

As Sequenom was introducing its test, Costa was finishing a clinical trial to determine whether a drug called memantine can help improve memory and cognition of young adults with Down syndrome. The results will be published early next year.

“The parent in me definitely feels sad,” he said about the new test that likely will lead to more abortions. “It shows the real value that society places on your child. All of a sudden she is not a person. She is a burden that we need to get rid of. But where does it stop? When you find out it’s a girl, or has blue eyes? There is a slippery slope. At some point things go out of control.”

Marcy Graham, senior director of investor relations at Sequenom, said their test is about providing information.

“This is the first widespread distribution of a DNA sequencing test. That does tend to make people nervous because they are not certain what it means,” Graham said. “It’s not intended to weed out a certain type of person. There are screening methodologies for a large number of diseases that are put in place to educate the parent. Ours is just a more safe method.”

Looking for information

Days after my daughter was born, my wife and I searched for accurate information about what our life would hold with a child with Down syndrome. One friend, trying to help, sent us a 1970s book about mongolism. I threw it away.

Our pediatrician scheduled a meeting with a mother and her adopted 3-year-old son who had Down syndrome. In the doctor’s office, I watched the child carefully, and immediately saw he wasn’t anything to fear. He was a little boy who wanted to play, climb on his mother’s lap and crawl into the cabinet below the sink like any toddler.

The world for people with Down syndrome has changed. In the past, children would be institutionalized. Now, they are raised with their families and go to school with their siblings. In 1983, the life expectancy for a person with Down syndrome was 25. Now it is 60. Today, people with Down syndrome go to college, act in shows like “Glee” and get married.

Such a powerful new tool to identify Down syndrome safely and so early in the pregnancy should be partnered with accurate and timely information for parents.

Down syndrome now is mostly a postnatal diagnosis. But it quickly will become a prenatal diagnosis.

“A collision is about to occur between the advent of new technology and absence of information,” said Brian Skotko, physician in the Down syndrome program at Children’s Hospital in Boston.

To fill the void, national Down syndrome groups and physicians have put together a booklet of information about the condition (find it at www.lettercase.org). And Whitten’s organization is working with Sequenom to provide accurate information at the time of diagnosis.

Mile High Down Syndrome Association is among several that have set up first-call support networks, where parents given a diagnosis can call a parent who already has a child with Down syndrome to find out what it’s like.

In October, the month that Sequenom introduced its test, Abigail was a model in a celebrity-studded fashion show in Denver that raises money for Whitten’s organization.

She joined other people with Down syndrome in the packed downtown auditorium, waving to the cheering crowd as she walked down the runway.

There was our baby — father’s joy. But I could barely see her through the tears in my eyes.

-Jeremy Meyer

=========

Down syndrome by the numbers

Last month, results were released from a six-year study of 2,044 families with children who have Down syndrome.

99% of parents said they love their child with Down syndrome

79% of parents said their outlook on life was more positive

94% of brothers and sisters said they are proud of their sibling with Down syndrome

99% of 284 people with Down syndrome said they were happy with their lives

97% of 284 people with Down syndrome said they liked who they were

Sources: 2011 Children’s Hospital Boston surveys

Where do they go for the truth?

Like everything else “teen” these days, it could be their cellphones. At least that’s the hope of Planned Parenthood, which on Wednesday launched a text-messaging program called In Case You’re Curious, or ICYC.

“We always encourage youth to have conversations with their parents, but we also recognize that not everyone has that ability,” said Alison Macklin, director of community education for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. “We’re not trying to take the place of those conversations, of them providing firsthand knowledge, but rather we’re providing a way to help answer questions.”

An offshoot of the Denver Teen Pregnancy Prevention Partnership, which began in Denver Public Schools in 2007, ICYC fell under the auspices of Planned Parenthood last year.

Since Planned Parenthood took over, about 500 messages have been received. Macklin said the hope is to at least double that total over the next year.

In the program, teens text their questions, which are parsed by Planned Parenthood staff. The responses — limited to 160 characters — are sent within 24 hours.

While the limited responses often direct the questioner to seek further advice from health and medical professionals, Macklin said they can be of immediate assistance on some topics.

“Our goal is to arm youth with medically accurate, age-appropriate information about what might be going on with their bodies,” she said. “We’d rather have them have access to that information than wondering or relying on common myths, like ‘It’s better to use two condoms rather than one,’ when the reality is that doing so will actually increase the risk for an unplanned pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease.”

In announcing the program, Planned Parenthood cited numbers from the Pew Research Center indicating that 75 percent of teenagers owned cellphones in 2010; of that number, 87 percent at least occasionally sent texts. Also, according to Pew, girls ages 14-17 “typically” send more than 100 texts a day.

Citing numbers from Colorado Youth Matter, Planned Parenthood said that from 2007 to 2009, there were on average 3,240 births among females ages 15-19 in the seven-county Denver metro area each year. In addition, 40 percent of Colorado high school students reported having had sex in their lifetime.

“We’re excited to give this resource to the community,” Macklin said. “With your youth texting more and more, it’s an opportunity for them to get answers and clarity in a format that’s familiar to them as well as getting access at any time.”

ICYC is slated to run for a year. While the program is limited to Denver, Macklin said expansion to other locations has been discussed, with the topic likely to be revisited in 2012.

However, not everyone was onboard with the new initiative.

“We’re aware of it,” said Keith Mason, president of Denver-based Personhood USA, which last month filed new language for a proposed constitutional amendment to end abortions in Colorado. “It’s just another extension of their abortion-marketing plan. Just like restaurants use texts to give out coupons, this is their way of driving young people to Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion chain in America.”

Anthony Cotton