By Katie Carlson

Staff Writer

Human development students are seeing the real effects of fetal alcohol syndrome, drug addicted babies and a shaken baby with three new dolls that have the symptoms of each.

The fetal alcohol syndrome baby shows how small the baby would be, also the drug addicted baby cries and shakes constantly.  The shaken baby has a plastic head, which shows where the baby’s head hits on the brain when it is shaken.

Instructor Naome Poppe purchased the dolls with Perkins money, which is free federal money to teachers who apply. Poppe said these babies are for demonstration purposes only because it’s all about “increasing awareness.”

Poppe also has five new “real care” babies, which the students have to feed, change and burp. The students have them from Monday to Friday. While they are at school, the babies are at daycare.

Poppe even had a mother come in to talk about child birth. Crystal Rothenberger, ’02, brought her month-old daughter, Rylan, to talk about the difficulties of labor and  delivery and to answer any questions the students had. Rothenberger is the sister of sophomore Danielle Meyer, who is taking the human development class.

Poppe also had an empathy belly brought in. It weighs the same as an actual nine-month pregnant belly. Students who tried it on had to tie their shoe, lie  down and sit in a chair.