Sept 19, 2018, (Australia) WA Today: Seven WA schools to get innovative autism program https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/wa-autism-program-a-resounding-success-as-more-schools-jump-on-board-20180919-p504nw.html Seven more schools in Western Australia will offer a specialist learning program for students with autism spectrum disorder from 2019. A total of $32 million has been invested in the 16 programs which were being rolled out from 2016 to 2020. The program, which is already in place in six schools, provides specialist and intensive support to students with autism who have the intellectual capacity to learn the mainstream curriculum, but who have specific social and emotional development needs. … Existing secondary autism extension programs at Ashdale Secondary College, Ocean Reef Senior High School and Fremantle College will be enhanced with more resources and capacity to provide for an increased number of students. A further three secondary schools, Baldivis Secondary College, Butler North Senior High School and Coodanup College, will offer the program from 2020. Each primary school selected to offer the program is in close proximity to one of the selected secondary schools, providing students with a seamless kindergarten to Year 12 program if required. Education Minister Sue Ellery said the specialist learning program ensured students with autism spectrum disorder receive the intensive support they require for academic, social and personal development. … A total of $32 million has been invested in the 16 programs which are being rolled out from 2016 to 2020.
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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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