WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 1976, PAGE 13 lIn Whitby since December Durha, By BRIAN WINTER Staff Writer In June 1975 the Durham Separate School Board closed St. Bernard's School in Whitby, but since December of that year a special form of education has been carried on in that building. The old St. Bernard's School is now occupied by Durham House, a day treat- ment centre for emotionally -disturbed children aged six to 12. Durham House was -started in 1970 by a steering committee headed by Oshawa's present mnayor Jim Potticary. Whitby representa- tives on this commnittee were Jean Baker and Gertrude Tucker. Durham House consists of a residence for emotionally disturbed children, which will move into a new building in Oshawa in September, -and the day 'treatment centre, which moved from Oshawa to Whitby after it was estab- lishied in September 1 975. Althoughi the two Durhamn House facilities are located in Whitby and Oshawa, the agency is regional in scope, with children attending the day treatment centre fromn Oshawa, Ajax, Claremnont and Bay Ridges. .Durhami House is operated by a priva te board of directors and funded 100 per cent by the Ontario Ministry of Health. Tie day treatnient centre is renting the old St. Bernard's Schiool froin the Separate School Board and intends to remnain in this building at least until June 1977. Thie day treatmnent centre is under the direction of Bill Shepherd, a Whitby resident. who las been in the social xvork field for 15 years. lie previously" worked for the Thistletown Hospital, the Toronto Children's Aid Society, and a residence for emnotionally'disturbed clîdren in Scarborough. Durham H1-use lias a capacity for eight children,* and there aire presently seven in attendance. t operates 11I nonths of the year, shutting down for the nonth of August. The children at Durham House are referred by other social agencies, the school boards or parents, because ,hey have learning problems, difficulties in relating to other people, or problerýs in living, says Mr. Shepherd. The staff of Durham flouse corîsists of i child care worker, who deals with the 'MHouse helps the , y disturbed sulting psychologist, psychia- secure and can be held room. He was also told that made aware of What the school and the trist and. paediatrician, W110 accountable for his actions", he would have to make up resu-its of his misbehavior are physiological mnake make regular visits.- says Mr. Shepherd. time during recess for timne on himnself and the other leads him to Durhaî awy.ro- m ca4r--uom.-- x cnirnQa~ Iv hinr c-xiierpn.viu.ýr Mr. Shepherd stresses trhe importance of the. family relationship regarding a hyper- active or emotionally disturb- ed child. Often parents have to change their ways of handling such children in order to cope with them, he says. The staff of Durham House meet once a week with the parents of children under their care, to acquaint them the child's progressé- The length of stay for a chiId at Durham House varies from a few months to a year, depeniding on how the child progresses. The aim, says Mr. Shepherd is to enable the child to behiave in such a manner that he can return to his homie'school. Since last Septemiber two children have gone b ack to their home schiools and four are in one stage, or another of prepara- tion to retumn. Before Durhamn House was established, such children liad to bc sent out of the commiiunity and the regioni, or to the United States for treatineft, lie says. 'he treatmcint centre iii Whitby offers a safe place wvhere the, child can feel Realistic cî'ntrols and goals are set out ;-uccess depends on these goals, he says. "We set goals for these kids and regularly review themn. We try to zero in on what the kid needs within the limita-, tion of our skills". One of the. main aims of Durham House is to help the child feel better about him- self and enjoy life a little more, says Mr. Shepherd. The relationship between the staff miembers and the children is important, for the child gets to know hie can trust the staff member. One particular case inivolves a I -year-old boy who had extreme problemns at schiool, was destructive, aggressive and hyperactive, but possessed an above average intelligence. Ilis main problemis were skipping schiool, swearing, spitting, kicking and biting. Mr. Slheplierd explîins that wvhen the boy arrived, hoe vas mioved out of the classroonm if lie misbeliaved , and a sta ff ineniber always went withi imii. Whien lie settlcd down, lie was sent back to the class- BilI Shepherd, Executive Director of Durham House, a day treatrnent centre for emotionally disturbed cbildren in the Durham Region, stands by thie door of the centre at the former St. Bernard's school on Dundas Street. The centre offers treatment for up to eight children from the region for 11 ronths of the year. Free Press Photo Whitby .archaeologist digs for relics in Israel Phyllis Jean Read of 204 Hlenry Street in Wlitby is one0 of seven Wilfrid Laurier UJniversity students schleduled to ]eave tomorrow on an archacological dig of Caesarea Maritima or) the coast of lsreal. Thîe latest group of Canadiaris to take part in the project ]cave froin Toronto for a five-week session with students and professjona1 archaeologists from hiore tha n 20 uniiversities. WLU is the -oly Canadiani university part icipating. Caesarea Maritimia, built in 20 B.C., was tIhe largest city ever built by l-lerod the Great. It covers 800 acres and once hiad a population of ncarly I1,000,000. 1It was destroyed by invading Arabs in 641 A.D. Among iLs treasurers, partly uncovered, is a hippod- rome larger than three football fields, a liuge sewer systemi that miay FroId the key to the street layout, and a giant acueduct that broughit fresli water aIl the way fromi the hilîs of Sainaria. Chief archaelogist for the project is Dr. Lawrence Toomlbs, WLU archaeologist. He is spending lis fourth sumnmer at the site. One mnethod used for this boy and other children was precision teaching, where the staff keep track of the number of times the child swears or otherwise mnisbe- haves, and together with the child they try to reduce the number of times this happens. When a child improves or shows good behavior, he is praised and told what the benefits are of good behavior. When he misbehaves he is Drugs are used very sparingly,' says Mr. Shepherd. and often a staff member holding a child's hand c'an calm him down when he is hyperactive. Mr. Shepherd points out there is a need to sensitize the parents to the positive changes in 'emotionally dis- turbed children. It is not just a child problem but a problem that ties into the family, the clifld's lup that xn House, Another factor is the tolerance level for bad behavior in the community. Ilnere's more tolerence of bad behavior in some children than in others, he says. Mr. Shepherd points out that Durham House does not operate in isolation, but is closely associated with other community agencies. "We have to adopt a program to meet the changing needs in the commdnity" he says. Counitry Setting Condominiums NO DO'WN PAYMENT TO Q LIFIED PURCHASERS i Bedroom EaLh wîth more than 700 sq. ft. of space olus îts own prîvate balcony. IMMEDIATE 2Bedrooms OCCUPANCY Each with more than 1,000 sq.ft. of space plus double balcon îes and two washrooms. 3 Bedrooms Each wîth more than 1.400 sq.ft. of space. plus double balconies and two washroomns. 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