Educate young adults and build their self-esteem so they can make informed choices!
Specially designed for teaching adolescents and adults with developmental disabilities, the STARS model focuses on four areas: Understanding Relationships, Social Skills Training, Sexual Awareness, and Assertiveness—with the goals of promoting positive sexuality and preventing sexual abuse. Assessment tools help identify the strengths and needs of each individual, and then the activities can be catered to address specific needs.
Goals and activities cover a variety of important skills:
- Building a Positive Self-Image
- Making Choices
- Learning Relationship-Appropriate Behaviors
- Engaging in Mature Relationships
- Identifying Body Parts and Understanding Their Functions
- Understanding Public and Private Behavior
- Understanding Sexual Feelings and Behaviors
- Understanding Reproduction
- Health Issues Related to Sexual Awareness
- Recognizing a Situation as Potentially Unsafe
- Learning to Say “No” and Using Basic Self-Protection
- And many more!
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 189
Susan M. Heighway, MS, PNP-BC, APNP is a clinical professor and nurse practitioner with the University Center for Excellence in Disabilities, Waisman Center, and a Faculty Associate with the School of Nursing, University of Wisconsin-Madison. At the Waisman Center, she works as a nurse practitioner in two outpatient clinics serving people ranging in age from birth to adulthood who have developmental disabilities or genetic/metabolic disorders, along with those individuals’ families. She is also the Nursing Discipline Coordinator for a federally funded Maternal and Child Health interdisciplinary leadership training program for graduate students.
Susan Kidd Webster, MSSW, LCSW is on the faculty of the School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin-Madison. For many years, she worked on capacity-building projects to support people with developmental disabilities in the community as an outreach specialist with the Waisman Center. Currently she teaches courses and coordinates training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate social work students focusing on people with developmental disabilities. She is also the parent of an adult son with cognitive disabilities.
Both Ms. Heighway and Ms. Webster have more than twenty years of experience in the area of sexual abuse prevention and sexuality education for people with developmental disabilities. They both served on a task force that was convened by the Wisconsin Council on Developmental Disabilities that addressed issues of sexual abuse of people with developmental disabilities. For several years, they worked together at the Waisman Center. They have provided consultation to community agencies, presented at conferences, gave guest lectures on campus, and conducted workshops on the local, state, and national levels regarding the areas of sexuality and sexual abuse.
“STARS is one of the most valuable tools on my office bookshelf. I use it often to evaluate community safety, teach about inappropriate sexual behaviors, and to structure my consultation and training to residential and vocational support providers.”
Patricia Miles Patterson, LCSW
Midwest Center for Psychotherapy and Sex Therapy
Middleton, WI
“I regularly use the concepts in STARS in my teaching and my work with medical practice. It is an outstanding guidebook that has stood the test of time.”
William Schwab, MD
Professor, University of Wisconsin, Department of Family Medicine
Madison WI
“I count my lucky stars that my daughter participated in a STARS group. The curriculum promotes self-esteem and self-awareness, creating a foundation from which to teach about sexuality and relationships. It provides tools to help young people with disabilities to make healthy, responsible decisions.”
Helen Hartman
Parent
Madison WI
Section One: Introduction
How to Use This Book
Why Sexuality Education?
Misbeliefs and Facts About Sexuality and Persons with Developmental Disabilities
Section Two: The STARS Model
Content Areas and Goals
Assessing the Needs of the Individual or “Figuring Out What To Teach”
Guidelines for Trainers
Involvement of Significant Others
Guidelines for Training
Policy Implications for Service Providers
Section Three: Understanding Relationships
Goal 1: Building a Positive Self-Image
Goal 2: Identifying Persons in One’s Life as Relatives, Friends, Acquaintances, Community Helpers, and Strangers
Goal 3: Learning Behaviors Appropriate for Each Type of Relationship
Community or Informal Activities
Section Four: Social Interaction
Goal 1: Approaching, Responding to, and Conversing with People in Different Settings and Situations
Goal 2: Expressing Preferences, Making Choices
Goal 3: Building Friendships
Goal 4: Engaging in More Mature Relationships
Goal 5: Recognizing Options for Relationships into Adulthood
Goal 6: Recognizing the Components and Responsibilities of a Positive Intimate Relationship
Goal 7: Understanding the Responsibilities of Parenthood and the Pros and Cons of Having Children
Community or Informal Activities
Section Five: Sexual Awareness
Goal 1: Building a Positive Self-Image
Goal 2: Identifying Male and Female
Goal 3: Identifying Body Parts and Understanding Their Functions
Goal 4: Understanding Public and Private Behavior
Goal 5: Differentiating Between Inappropriate and Appropriate Touching
Goal 6: Understanding the Emotional and Physical Changes of Puberty
Goal 7: Understanding Sexual Feelings and Behaviors
Goal 8: Understanding Reproduction
Goal 9: Examining Societal Norms and Values Regarding Sexuality
Goal 10: Learning about Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Goal 11: Discussing Other Health Issues Related to Sexual Awareness
Community or Informal Activities
Section Six: Assertiveness
Goal 1: Increasing Self-Empowerment through Words and Actions
Goal 2: Recognizing a Situation as Potentially Unsafe
Goal 3: Learning to Say “No” and Using Basic Self-Protection
Goal 4: Knowing How and Where to Get Help at Home and in the Community
Goal 5: Reporting Sexual Exploitation or Abuse Community or Informal Activities
Section Seven: Assessment
STARS Participant Information Form
Sexual Attitudes and Knowledge (S.A.K.) Assessment
Sexual Abuse Risks Assessment (S.A.R.A.)
Individual Training Plan
Section Eight: Glossary
Section Nine: Resources
