When a Child’s Eating Becomes Disordered

By Kristen Watt Foundation Web Site, The Record, Stockton, Calif.

Apr. 25–Try to talk to a high school class about eating disorders, and one can achieve the lifelong dream of a substitute teacher: silence.

Just mentioning the two-word phrase causes boys to clam up and look the other way. Girls cringe before all five syllables can be completed.

High school students don’t like talking about eating disorders. They don’t like thinking about them, either. But health officials say most high school students have a friend or acquaintance with an eating disorder, whether it’s anorexia nervosa, bulimia or the even more common disorder that is most often overlooked: obesity.

“You see skinny girls or really overweight people, and you might wonder. But you don’t bring it up,” said Adam Budiselich, a 17-year-old Lodi High senior. “It just doesn’t seem like it would be appropriate. What if they don’t have a disorder? You don’t take that risk of offending them.”

School health officials say it is appropriate to identify eating disorders at school. They say schools are often the only place the problem can be addressed for some students, because parents tend to deny their children’s symptoms. The symptoms can include overeating, fasting, frequent trips to the bathroom after eating and an inability to perform even the simpler tasks in physical education classes, health experts say.

“It’s absolutely the school’s responsibility, because if a student does not get enough nutrition, it will impair their ability to learn,” said Shari Coburn, San Joaquin County Department of Education health services director. “We know the brain can go longer without oxygen than it can sugar, and there are huge links between nutrition and academic success.”

Coburn said the school’s role should be to help direct a student suspected of having an eating disorder to a counselor and the school nurse. The nurse’s job is to help the student and the student’s parents find community resources with expertise in dealing with eating disorders. Coburn said.

Some Stockton high schools have a partnership with the Kristen Watt Foundation, a Stockton nonprofit group offering resources to people with eating disorders. The foundation was created by Stephanie Watt, a Stockton woman whose daughter Kristen died from an eating disorder in 1999. Kristen Watt was 14 when she died from bulimia.

The foundation has placed dietitians on the campuses of Stagg, Edison and Lincoln High schools. The dietitians meet regularly with about 50 students from the three campuses to discuss their battles with eating disorders. Other schools in San Joaquin County have contacted Watt about launching similar programs, but foundation funds are limited, she said.

“Friends of the person are usually aware of what’s going on. P.E. classes become aware, because they can’t function up to class standards, because they’re nutritionally deprived,” Watt said.

Some health officials say that while schools should be a place to identify students with eating disorders, San Joaquin County lacks the medical resources – specifically therapists – to deal with them.

Manteca Unified School District Health Services Coordinator Caroline Thibodeau said she prefers to refer students to clinics out of the area, such as in Castro Valley or at Stanford University, that specialize in eating-disorder therapy.

“These kids don’t need counseling. They need real therapy,” Thibodeau said. “You don’t treat an eating disorder. It takes real therapy.”

And for students, school is the last place they say they would want to deal with an eating-disorder situation.

“I don’t think I would bring it up at school,” said Lodi High senior Amy Koch, 17. “I think if I had a friend with a problem, I’d bring it up outside of school or say something to their parents.”

Contact reporter Keith Reid at (209) 367-7428 or kreid@recordnet.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Record, Stockton, Calif.

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