April 24, 2017, Bakersfield (CA) Community Voices: (OP ED) Hazards of mainstreaming special needs students http://www.bakersfield.com/opinion/community-voices-hazards-of-mainstreaming-special-needs-students/article_0a7ff54b-84a8-53c2-a784-a57924ff7f1b.html The mainstreaming of special needs students in our schools is causing serious safety concerns. Swelling numbers of students with emotional and psychological issues are resulting in an increase in violence. The recent Florida arrest of an autistic 11-year-old for having allegedly assaulted his teacher is just one example. I have a first-hand understanding of several similar local cases where special needs students assaulted teachers. As I recently told a local school superintendent and one of his principals, all students deserve an education. And all students deserve a safe educational experience — including special needs students. ... In my conversations with dozens of local teachers, I have discovered that these teachers have been kicked, punched, stabbed, suffered wrist sprains and limb bruises, some so bad that ice bags were deployed for swelling. Since many principals want to portray their campuses as “safe schools,” official reports are not always drawn up. The discipline being meted out is often to keep students out of class for a time, or sent home for a day. … Teachers are not special education experts, yet they must deal with what only experts could expect. What have schools come to that they are havens for drug babies, drugged students, bipolar teens, the ADHD accommodated, autistic, and low achievers who may also be emotionally and psychologically disabled? How could anyone expect such an environment to be suitable for rigorous learning? There is no fairness to those students to place them in environments where they cannot learn and are possibly set off by their surroundings. ... Violence should neither be tolerated nor overlooked just because it stems from smaller bodies or takes place in lower grades.
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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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