Oct 15, 2018, Ashland (KY) Daily Independent: Building better citizens -- Russell school, Lowe's partner on sensory garden http://www.dailyindependent.com/news/building-better-citizens----russell-school-lowe-s/article_5e3fd14a-ce60-11e8-8a99-475cd384c20a.html An example of local educators going above and beyond for their students was on full display this week via a special project at Russell McDowell Intermediate School. The idea for a sensory garden at the school was the idea of special education teachers Lesley Ann Isom and Jamie Gibbs. …. "There are more and more kids with autism and we have a lot of kids coming up with autism," Isom said. "The perfect thing for them is a sensory garden. They can get some fresh air and reset. We are going to have swings, sensory stations and Lowe's is going to help us."… Xandrea Gallucci is the mother of Vincent Gallucci, 11. Vincent is a fifth grader at Russell-McDowell Intermediate School. Vincent was diagnosed with autism at 2, has been subject to seizures since 3, had surgery two years ago, and he has always been in special education. He is somewhere in the middle of the autism spectrum, not severe but not high-functioning either. His mother believes the sensory garden will be an incredible asset. "It would be a place he could go to get away from the noise of the assembly, the crush of the assembly, a place to center himself, to get back to normal," she said, adding "for an autistic child, a sensory garden can ease the pain of everyday life we all take for granted."…
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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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