New Sex Education Policy for Disabled Under Study : Schools: Teachers worry that revised county guidelines could be too restrictive, and hinder students’ access to crucial health information.

Raising concerns among some teachers, the Ventura County Board of Education is revising its policy about sex education instruction for disabled and troubled students at county-run schools.

The five-member board next month will consider a draft revision of family-life education guidelines that would apply to the nearly 20 county programs in schools from Ventura to Simi Valley.

Even after the board sets the guidelines, it will have to approve individual family-life curricula at each school.

But, at a recent board meeting, teachers said they are worried that the new policy could be too restrictive, limiting what can and cannot be taught to students in county-run schools.

Indeed, at least one county board member has indicated that she may favor stricter family-life education guidelines.

Board member Wendy Larner, who was elected in 1991 with the support of the conservative Pro-Family Caucus of Ventura County, has said she is concerned that teaching about contraception and other aspects of sexuality may send the message to students that school officials approve of premarital sexual activity.

Teachers say frank and open discussions about sexuality may be critical not only for students’ health, but also for their physical safety.

The county runs about 13 educational programs for disabled or special-education students and has another six schools for troubled youths--pregnant teen-agers, young people in detention facilities, and others who had social, behavioral or academic problems that interfered with their success at regular schools.

While the board policy requires schools to emphasize abstinence as the best protection against sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies, it leaves room for teachers to instruct students about topics ranging from birth control to dating.

Teachers want to keep that flexibility.

For special-education students, learning about their own sexuality may be the key to helping them protect themselves against being molested or assaulted, teachers told board members at the meeting.

Nationwide, disabled children are sexually abused at nearly twice the rate of other young people, according to a federal study released last month.

The high rate of sexual abuse of disabled people continues into their adulthood, studies show.

Teacher Nancy Achorn said she worries that students in her special-education class at Ventura High School may be taken advantage of by other young people from the school.

“The kids on our campus come into contact with regular high school students,” she told the board. “Hormones are flying. They need to protect themselves from neglect and specifically abuse. It’s well-documented that the disabled are more likely to be abused.”

Because disabled students have a wide range of abilities, teachers need the flexibility to adjust their sex education instruction to the child’s level, teachers told the board.

Moreover, such students often grasp concrete facts more easily than abstract ideas, so teachers said they may need to be more graphic in their instruction.

“You have to address these things very straightforwardly with them for them to understand,” said Christina Davis, a nurse for three county schools.

At Dorothy Boswell School in Ventura, nurse Teri Norrdin teaches weekly sex education classes to developmentally disabled young adults from 18 to 22 years old.

Although her students lag behind other young people in their cognitive skills, Norrdin said, most of them develop at a normal rate sexually.

“They’re no different from anybody else as far as their sexuality,” Norrdin said. “They’re like any other young adult.”

Picking out only the most advanced students and securing permission from their parents, Norrdin conducts separate sessions each week for girls and boys.

Holding up a chart with a sketch of a man’s and woman’s body, Norrdin pointed during a session last week to the different body parts, asking students to name them and identify whether they are “private.” Then she rehearsed with the students how they would respond if they were sexually violated.

“What are you going to do if someone touches you there?” Norrdin asked, pointing to the chart.

“Say, ‘No, don’t touch us,” “ 19-year-old Matthew Simmons said.

“How are you going to say ‘No?,’ ” Norrdin asked.

“No!,” Simmons said loudly. “Don’t touch us!”

Often, disabled students are taught to be too compliant, Norrdin said. She said she strives to teach them to be assertive about protecting themselves sexually.

Special-education teachers are not the only ones who say they want the county family-life guidelines to remain broad and flexible.

Kathy Auth teaches about 60 students in the teen-age parent program at Gateway School in Camarillo.

Even though her students, most of them girls, have all had children of their own, she said many of them are still naive about certain aspects of sexuality.

In one recent student evaluation of the program, a girl wrote, “ ‘Now I know how I got pregnant,’ ” Auth said.

Ideally, students learn about their sexuality from their parents, she said.

But, she said, “for the student who doesn’t have the safety net of a supportive home, the school is the only place to get that information.”