Nov 25, 2018, Riotact: Deakin P&C Association calls for mindfulness trial across ACT schools to head off behavioural issues https://the-riotact.com/pc-association-calls-for-mindfulness-trial-across-act-schools-to-head-off-behavioural-issues/275384 A mindfulness meditation program should be rolled out across ACT primary schools as a proactive and inexpensive way to improve student wellbeing and prevent bullying and violence, the ACT Parents and Citizens Association says. In a 2019 Budget submission, the Association says a recent trial of mindfulness for Year 3 students at Giralang Primary School in the ACT had been so successful that it had been extended to the whole school. It says the trial demonstrated a 95 per cent reduction in the negative behaviour of students, including violence, as well as contributing to a more settled classroom and better concentration, productivity and self-regulation. The trial drew on the Smiling Mind program, which included teacher training at a cost of $1500 per workshop, with free manuals and resources. … … The daily practice started with five minutes, gradually building up to the current 10-15 minutes within an allotted half-hour period…. “The mental health risk dropped by 51 per cent, the class teacher said they were calmer, there were positive changes in behaviour, they were finding their voices, feeling safer, and sleeping better.” Since then, with the whole school (including teachers) practising mindfulness, teachers are reporting that classrooms are more settled, students’ work output greater after mindfulness practice, and parents reporting better satisfaction with the school’s management of student behaviour. Ms Sexton says mindfulness is now part of the Giralang’s five-year strategic plan, and the principal believes it is critical in the future education of children. She said the mother of a child with autism had thanked her for setting up the trial because it had made such an enormous difference to him. … The Association wanted to see it more systematically rolled out across Canberra recommending a 10-primary school trial for Class 3 students over 12 months. The cost would be about $52,909, or around $1000 a week, including two 90-minute workshops with teachers from Smiling Mind ($1500 per workshop) and research using the free SDQ assessment tool. …
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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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