Mar 8, 2019, Bloomington (IL) Pantagraph: Unit 5 adds staff to address a 'new crisis' in school system https://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/education/unit-adds-staff-to-address-a-new-crisis-in-school/article_92f39431-0f3a-5656-93e5-ebd6341c2d63.html Staff at Fox Creek Elementary School are helping more and more students with complex mental health and behavioral issues, according to comments Friday from Unit 5 Superintendent Mark Daniel. … Unit 5 added six social workers this year to help students whose home, mental health and educational needs surpass what can be managed in the classrooms across the district. … For many students, mental health needs are entwined with their home life, said Daniel. He said a home interventionist works directly with families, including those with children who have serious behavioral needs, to serve as a bridge to the classroom. … "We had to do something. I truly believe this is the new crisis in our school system," Daniel said of the increase in students with behavioral health needs. To further address the shortage of mental health services for youth, the council agreed to move forward with development of a plan to expand those services. A draft of the plan is expected to be completed by June. …
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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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