Nine-year-old Irshe Williams was a "problem child" until this month.

"She was going through a lot." said grandmother Lee Ann Brown, 51, of Denver.

"She didn't want to talk too much. She had a lot of attitude. She's 9 but she was thinking she wanted to be a teen-ager. She wanted to be older."

But this month, she and her twin brother, Irvin, went on a four-day ski trip with the Shaka Franklin Foundation for Youth -- and came back changed.

"They learned to do more for themselves," Brown said.

Irshe's attitude improved noticeably.

"She learned more responsibility, she learned to open more, to talk more," Brown said. "It was hard, but it was real nice. By going to this trip, Irshe knew there were rules." The twins were among thirteen children who participated in the Sally Knight Ski School. Knight, a pro skier from Vermont, developed the school for the Shaka Franklin Foundation and Steamboat Springs Ski resort.

During the day, the children took ski lessons. In the evenings, they participated in workshops on self-esteem, conflict management, communication and team-building.

"When the kids have an attitude, they're usually on a negative path," said Marianne Franklin, business manager for the foundation. "It may not lead to suicide but it's self-destruction. It's a slow death. If you can give children experiences, to let them know that there are things that they never dream they could do, that they are creative, it gives them something to work on."

Irshe said she enjoyed the trip. "It was fun when I went skiing," she said. "I would like to go again. It's kind of boring at home."

Irvin said, "I learned how to behave better and how to be good."