June 19, 2019, Sydney Morning Herald: The 'problematic' rise in students excluded from mainstream classes https://www.smh.com.au/education/the-problematic-rise-in-students-excluded-from-mainstream-classes-20190619-p51zc6.html An increasing number of students with autism are being excluded from mainstream classes according to new research which raises concerns about the segregation of children with disabilities. The Monash University research found that between 2009 and 2015, the inclusion of autistic students in mainstream classes dropped from 18.8 per cent to just 3.3 per cent. During this period, the proportion of students with autism in special schools increased from 37 to 52 per cent. The research, which was published in the International Journal of Inclusive Education and draws on Australian Bureau of Statistics data, found students with autism were being segregated at much higher rates than students with other disabilities. The study’s author, Dr Kate de Bruin, said a lack of resources, inadequate teacher training and myths about students with a disability being disruptive were fuelling the segregation…. She criticised One Nation senator Pauline Hanson over her calls to remove children with autism and disabilities from mainstream classes. “This is a really problematic attitude," she said…. Year 10 student Jake, who has autism and attends St James College in Bentleigh East, said his experience at a mainstream school had been positive…. …Chris Varney, the founder of I CAN Network, who also has autism, said the segregation was more pronounced in secondary schools. He said this was because, unlike primary schools, secondary school students had multiple teachers who were often unable to provide the same oversight and support to students with autism. …
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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.
Loss of Brain Trust features over 9,000 news stories published worldwide since January, 2017
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
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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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