Jun. 05, 2005

Home school helps students

with ADHD succeed

'MY GOAL IS TO REACH THESE KIDS'

By Greg Kocher

CENTRAL KENTUCKY BUREAU

NICHOLASVILLE - Standing before her class, Helen Sharon reads out loud a letter-writing exercise written by 11-year-old Adam Marvin.

The letter consists of only five sentences, but it bears testimony to the struggle of its author. Adam, like the rest of the class of 18 students, has ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Writing complete sentences is an accomplishment because it requires concentration and focus -- characteristics that are elusive for people with ADHD.

"'I am having a rough day today,'" Sharon begins to read.

"And he spelled 'rough' correctly," she interjects, then resumes reading. "'I am having trouble staying focused. I have gotten two things done and the rest I am taking home. I need your advice. What would you do if you were in my shoes?'"

Then, addressing Adam directly, Sharon praises his work. "I don't want to hear 'I can't write' any more," she says. "Adam, I know you can write, my man."

So begins another day at The Sharon School, a private school that Sharon operates out of her Jessamine County home. Her pupils are 7 to 18 years old, and all have at least one learning disability. Some come to The Sharon School as a last resort, having experienced only failure and frustration in other schools.

ADHD is seen in 3 percent to 5 percent of children, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Symptoms include distraction, forgetfulness, fidgeting, impulsivity and disorganization. Sharon, 56, who controls her own ADHD with the drug Adderall, says she succeeds where others fail in part because she understands the children.

"I walk a mile in their shoes," she said. "I understand how they feel. I can look at these kids and instinctively know what's going on. Nobody has to explain it to me."

'Her mission'

May 27 concluded The Sharon School's first full school year at its location east of Nicholasville. Sharon does not advertise, and she won't take more than 20 students. Stepson Allen Sharon, 23, serves as an assistant in maintaining discipline.

"There are two or three days a year I call 'hell days' and that's when everyone is having a difficult ADHD day at the same time," Sharon said. "Those are more counseling days than teaching days. And if somebody has a meltdown or a bad day, we all stop and help that person deal with whatever he's dealing with."

As a home school, there is no independent evaluation or assessment that says Sharon School students are learning and achieving what they must at their age. But parents say they can see academic and behavioral improvement in their children, and they express gratitude for Sharon's commitment.

"It's almost like her mission to try to help these kids and try to help them succeed," said Walt Gaffield, whose son Peter attends the Sharon School.

"I don't know what we would do without her," said Margaret Brindley, mother of a 14-year-old student, Justin. "It is so comforting to talk to somebody that understands him."

"She teaches to the disability, to the inability to focus, and she seems to have some tricks up her sleeve. ... I really think it's a God-given talent and purpose," said Connie Young, mother of 16-year-old Zach.

Most of Sharon's students come from Lexington, but she has a few from Nicholasville, Versailles and Lancaster. Her goal is to have students eventually make the transition back into public schools. Parents interviewed for this story said they would like their children to be in The Sharon School for two years before attempting to have them re-enter public school.

"As we've had a student transition from her school back into the public school, she's communicated that with us so we could have a meeting to make sure the student transition to us is as positive as possible," said Matt Moore, director of special education for the Jessamine County schools.

Parents are fiercely loyal to the school. When it appeared Sharon might lose the permit to have classes within her residence because she did not have a septic system required by the county health department, some parents discussed finding another location so the school could continue.

"I told her I would personally make it a night-time, moonlighting job for me to help her find a building, probably in Lexington, that would be coded properly," said Scott Hoyt, father of a Sharon School student.

Eventually, Sharon had the necessary septic system installed -- at a cost of more than $20,000 -- and the crisis passed.

Behavior modification

Sharon, a former food services director for the Hardin County schools, has a master's degree in guidance and counseling from Western Kentucky University and 43 hours of endorsement-level work in learning disabilities. She has worked as a teacher and private tutor with ADHD children since 1993, when she began a similar school in Hodgenville.

She later moved to Versailles, where she had hoped to start a school for ADHD and learning-disabled students in 1998. The Woodford County Board of Adjustment denied her application for a conditional use permit to have a school in her home, and she briefly operated in Woodford Christian Church and a Lexington YWCA. She and her husband, Glenn, later moved to Nicholasville.

The cost to send a child to The Sharon School is $4,000 a year. But the commitment sought from parents isn't only in dollars. Sharon said the school works when the parent, school and physicians communicate and band together to help the child; she calls this "The Sharon School Model."

A key element of that model is "behavior modification" involving rewards and penalties. Parents must agree to be as consistent in the application of those rewards and penalties at home as Sharon is in class.

The rewards and penalties differ for each child, but work like this: Students earn points and privileges for completing assignments and finishing them on time. Points and privileges are lost for misbehavior or tardy assignments.

The aim is to have the child control his or her impulsive behaviors, such as blurting out inappropriate remarks.

"You have to put them in a position where they want to make themselves do what does not come naturally," Sharon said.

The school, located in the basement of the Sharon residence, has a calm and structured atmosphere in its 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., five-days-a-week schedule. Upon arrival, students leave their shoes at the door and spend class time in their stocking feet.

Then they straighten their cubicles and clean the classroom. After prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, they begin work on their individual assignments.

Throughout the school day, Sharon is alternately patient, loving, outspoken and tough as nails.

During reptile study time, she encourages students to hold Pepe, a live 3-foot-long ball python. Late in the day, exasperated by continuous questions, she has the class repeat her instructions: "When I finish my test, I will turn it in and finish my social studies."

'Good news diagnosis'

She used the same technique with Anne Dawahare, a former Sharon School student who recently completed her sophomore year at Lexington Community College. Dawahare, who has ADHD with moderate social anxiety, spent years in high school, parochial school and a private prep school in North Carolina. Comprehending what she read was a challenge, and Dawahare refused to ask for help.

"I would sit there and read it and I wouldn't have a clue of what these people were asking," Dawahare said. "It was basically like taking a test every day for every subject over every chapter."

Dawahare said Sharon "really helped me understand my ADHD and how to work around it and how to work with it. She makes sure everybody knows it's OK to have ADHD. That it's not going to kill you, but you can work with it to be successful."

Dawahare is not shy about asking for help now. She hopes to pursue a career in nursing.

It's these kinds of testimonials that keep parents and children coming through referrals and word-of-mouth to The Sharon School.

"My goal is not to make money. My goal is to reach these kids, and that I could end my days saying, 'ADHD is a good-news diagnosis,' but you just have to learn how to handle it. All ADHD people have been given a gift, a tremendous gift. They just need training in how to handle it."