U. co-sponsors HIV awareness program

The Graduate School of Education will co-sponsor a program that will look at the national problem of discrimination against HIV-infected children in the classroom, University spokesperson Kathryn Hann said this week. Co-sponsored by Thomas Jefferson University, the Educators Learning about Children with HIV and Drug Exposure program -- ELCHADE -- will be held in the form of a series of workshops on July 6, 7, 13 and 14. ELCHADE -- funded by a United States Department of Education grant -- is one of the first attempts to make educators aware of the learning and behavioral disabilities HIV and drug exposed students face in the classroom, Hann said in a statement. ELCHADE coordinator Gwynne Sigel said the program will educate teachers about the problems which elementary school children who are infected with the HIV virus face, and ways to help them with any learning or adjustment problems they might have. "It will move us forward in HIV issues and help combat discrimination against HIV in schools," Sigel said. "It will help to create a climate for changing classrooms for kids." Approximately 25 educators from various Philadelphia school districts will discuss HIV-related issues at the workshops with a group of specialists from a variety of disciplines including nursing, law, sociology, education and physical therapy. The educators will then return to their school districts and instruct other teachers and administrators of their findings, Sigel said. She added that many educators who had participated in earlier ELCHADE workshops said the program would be helpful in their districts, which were not up-to-date in their policies toward HIV schoolchildren. Hann said between 10,000 and 20,000 children are infected with HIV and more than 375,000 children have been pre-natally exposed to drugs. Many more are affected by problems because they have HIV-infected or drug-using parents or relatives, Sigel added. This year, ELCHADE workshops will be held at three other locations besides the University. The program was started with a single pilot training session last year by the University and Thomas Jefferson University. Sigel said the program will continue for the next two years, and expand to include other cities with high concentrations of HIV and drug-related problems -- including Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles.