Nov 29, 2018, Anchorage, AK, KTOO, Public Media: What’s behind recent threats in Anchorage schools? https://www.ktoo.org/2018/11/29/whats-behind-recent-threats-in-anchorage-schools/ For weeks, Anchorage schools have been grappling with a wave of violent threats. Officials stress that while none of them have posed a real risk to public safety, they’re being taken seriously. But there has been little offered about why the cluster of messages is happening all at once. … The first message was found in a bathroom at Dimond High School on Nov. 5. According to a statement emailed to parents by principal Tina Johnson-Harris, the threat scrawled on a towel dispenser read, “I’m shooting up the school, I’m not joking. … Police have begun charging the individuals they believe made the threats. According to Thim, four people have been arrested so far, all of them are minors, which means APD withholds the names and specific charges. More arrests are possible…. Whether it’s suicides, threatening messages or physical violence, researchers and activists have a number of recommendations to keep from amplifying information in a harmful way. One is for less sensational media coverage that can inadvertently attach a sense of impact and significance to threats. Others include more mental health resources in schools and focusing on negative consequences from making even threats.
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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