Texas Tech University (TTU), through the Virginia Murray Sowell Center for Research and Education in Sensory Disabilities, developed a training program for Texas educators working with dually diagnosed K-12 students. Called Project TEDD (Training Educators in Dual Diagnosis), the program used a “train the trainer” model to provide educators with the skills and knowledge to recognize, understand, and work with students who are dually diagnosed.

In addition to training workshops, Project TEDD created a free online training curriculum that covers collaboration and communication, crisis intervention, working with families, and more. Educators who completed the program’s training took what they learned back to their school districts to increase their colleagues’ understanding of students with DD and mental illness. Through this process, Project TEDD created new leaders in dual diagnosis among K-12 students in Texas and addressed a statewide need for more teachers and education professionals who have the skills and understanding to support students who are dually diagnosed.

One special education teacher in Corpus Christi said Project TEDD’s training on distinguishing between mental health issues and mental illness to be very impactful in her teaching and found crisis intervention strategies helpful in her classroom. An educator from Breckenridge ISD said the “resources and information from Project TEDD will help teachers understand the underlying function of student behavior while also providing methods for addressing the behaviors to enable the students to succeed. Additionally, the training will help raise awareness of the possibility of underlying mental health issues in our DD students.”

The Project TEDD website includes more information and materials. Here are a few examples of additional resources from the project:

• An Overview of Dual Diagnosis (video)
• Project TEDD: A Teacher’s Perspective (video)
• Prevalence of Dual Diagnosis (PDF)
• How Does Dual Diagnosis Affect Educational Performance? (PDF)  
    

TCDD has supported grant projects across Texas to better understand and address the needs of youth and adults with DD and mental health conditions. The complexities of having both DD and mental illness create barriers to finding support, prevention, intervention, and treatment services. While people can experience mental health trauma regardless of whether they also have a disability, people with DD experience this trauma more frequently. Too often, their needs go unrecognized and untreated until a crisis happens.