On the third floor of Coe Elementary School on Queen Anne is a very special classroom - special not just in the school, not just in the Seattle School District but, perhaps, in the nation.
It is Room 310, set up primarily for students with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD. Teacher Shealeen Stabelfeldt has been there since its inception in the fall of 2002.
This year there are nine students in the class. "Many of them are smart, but they have heightened senses," says Stabelfeldt.
With the help of district occupational therapists Sharon Groves the first year and Carrie Wheeler the past two years, as well as instructional assistant Nancy Gruber, Stabelfeldt has developed a unique curriculum using sensory teaching tools.
For example, bright colors and loud noises make her students anxious, so tables and bulletin boards are plain and brown, and there is cloth on the walls to muffle sound.
Students are allowed to chew gum. It keeps their mouths busy and can prevent outbursts. They can sit on bouncy balls to help them fidget less and concentrate more.
If a child is hyper, constantly getting out of his seat, he can don a weighted vest. "It grounds them," says Stabelfeldt. Feeling hyper is like flying. The vest refocuses the kids by bringing them back down to the task at hand.
Stabelfeldt also teaches anger management. If a child has a meltdown, he can seek refuge in a tent just outside Room 310, complete with sleeping bags and stuffed animals. There the children can cry or scream, whatever it takes to regain control of themselves.
Besides academics and behavior management, students are taught social skills: how to greet someone appropriately, how to read another person's facial expression and body language, and how to express appropriately the four kinds of feelings - mad, sad, glad and scared.
The nine students spend each morn-ing in Room 310; then, in the afternoon, they are integrated into regular classrooms, where they can practice integrating into the world at large, prepared with the coping strategies they learn in Room 310.
Perhaps the greatest benefit of convening every morning in Room 310 is that students are reminded daily that they're not alone with their disabilities. "Many of these students are happy in school for the first time," says Stabel-feldt, "and parents are grateful that they are."
Colleen Stump was instrumental in bringing Room 310 to life. Stump is man-ager of the school district's Advanced Learning Program and, back then, also of its Special Education Program.
The district employs consulting teachers who work at different schools and advise the district how best to serve its students. They noticed - and parents confirmed the observation - that some students were still struggling, despite having an Individual Educational Plan. The idea that ADHD students need something different from Special Ed was embraced by district administrators, and Stump did everything necessary to make it a reality.
The creation of Room 310 followed no models. "It's a model classroom itself," says Stump.
Coe was chosen because it has adequate facilities and the staff was willing. Humble about her own efforts, Stump says, "Administrative leadership and support is why it took off."
As reported on KPLU, the school district spends about $14,000 per year per student in Room 310, triple what it spends on other students in the school. But Coe principal David Elliott has no problem with this seeming disproportion. "There is much to be gained from the classroom on the third floor," he says. "Techniques we've learned from the teachers and kids in Room 310 we've applied throughout the school."
Both nationwide and in the Seattle School District, special-ed programs are being cut. But for now, Room 310 is safe. "I hope it continues for as long as there is a need for it," says Stabelfeldt.
Unfortunately for Room 310, it will have to go on without her after this year. Happily for her, she is getting married and moving to Wisconsin, where she will not be teaching. "I'm sad to be leaving the kids," she says, "but I need a break.
"Teachers in these kinds of programs get burned out after five years," she continues. "I was lucky - I made it for six!"
Her first three years she held several teaching positions in Massachusetts, always losing them because of budget cuts. "As a special-ed teacher I was used to going from job to job year after year," she says, "so I was ecstatic when I got to stay each year at Coe."
Asked to share a success story, Stabelfeldt cannot single one out. "Each student that has been or is currently in this class is a success story," she says.
She knows whereof she speaks.
"I understand what they're going through, and I know how to help," she says. "I was a child who was distractable in school, hated to write, had poor social skills and was a behavioral mess. I don't know how my parents did it, but I made it through.
"Because of that, I love teaching these kinds of kids," Stabelfeldt adds. "They're like Mini-Mes!"
They say to teach what you need to learn, and she does.
Growing up, Stabelfeldt probably didn't have a teacher like herself. May this generation of schoolchildren and those after be more fortunate, not just in Room 310, but everywhere.
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