Association of State & Territorial Health Officicals (ASTHO) Report-May 1999

Recently, staff of the Adolescent and School Health Project attended a demonstration of a new program, Ripple Effects for Teens. Ripple Effects for Teens is an interactive social learning system on CD-ROM that is a tool adolescents can use to assist in solving everyday life problems. Ripple Effects for Teens is a combination encyclopedia and how- to manual of social-emotional competencies. Users of Ripple Effects for Teens work toward the mastery of these seven life skills:

1. knowing yourself
2. identifying with others
3. getting respect
4. controlling impulses
5. managing feelings
6. making decisions, and
7. belonging

The program can be targeted for different purposes using modules, such as an intervention for behavioral problems; violence prevention, drugs, alcohol and tobacco; and sexuality issues. It includes video true stories, interactive games, and electronic and assisted writing exercises. Except for the journal writing, all of the rest of the program has complete text-to-sound equivalents, making it easily accessible to low level readers, as well as hard of hearing students and students with attention problems.

Field testing of the program to date has included evaluation of the program by both educators (50 administrators and teachers) and students (approximately the same number) with about two dozen additional school sites across the country scheduled to participate in the next round of testing.

Some of the features of the program include:

• More than 650 practice opportunity screens include specific instructions for communicating with friends and family.
• An "On your mind" (brain/journal) activity that specifically helps users identify who in the community they can go to for help, for each of 650+ challenges.
• An inside-the-program link to Ripple Effects‘ site on the world wide web
• The web site provides contact numbers for national helping agencies for almost any problem an adolescent might face.
• Training in group skills, like participating in a discussion, joining a group or game, getting and giving help, sharing, dealing with authority and resolving conflict.

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