***Feb 8, 2019, ABC6, Knoxville, TN: Blount County Schools note rise in mental illness among elementary level students https://www.wate.com/news/local-news/blount-county-schools-note-rise-in-mental-illness-among-elementary-level-students/1766197264 MARYVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) - Blount County Schools is seeing more students with emotional and mental illnesses. According to the school district, this increase is on a scale they've never seen before, particularly in lower grades. At just one of the district's 14 elementary schools; three students were on suicide watch, and two students were cutting themselves, dealing with bulimia and even pulling their hair out. The approach to combat the struggles of mental health issues in the district is a multi-year approach on several fronts lasting anywhere from four to five years. Blount County Schools' health coordinator, Mary Beth Blevins, says the school system does not want to rush this. They want to do it well and with fidelity. … The recommendation to the school board includes the implementation of a social and emotional learning curriculum - there is a cost attached. There are 14 elementary schools in Blount County. The plan would be to start in seven schools during year one and then the other seven in year two. That's on top of a request for additional counselors and school psychologists. …
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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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