Feb 5, 2018, Sullivan (MO) Independent News: District Needs Additional Special Education Teacher https://www.mysullivannews.com/news-bourbon/district-needs-additional-special-education-teacher Bourbon School District special education director DiAnna Thompson said at the board’s January meeting an additional teacher was needed based on the growing number of class sizes and referrals. … There are 21 students in the kindergarten and first grade special education class, plus nine referrals. Based on preliminary data, Thompson said she believed those referrals would qualify for services, giving one teacher 30 students. … The students have needs that go beyond just reading, writing and math. Thompson said special education teachers must address issues that extend to their home lives. “We’re having to be moms, dads, caretakers, counselors and therapists for our kids,” she said. Before the next school year, Thompson wants to look at a better way to distribute the students. In the second grade alone, there are 18 special needs students for one stand alone teacher and three referrals in the works. “It keeps going on and on,” she said. “Next year we have to look at how we divide up children to do what’s best.” In the fifth and sixth grade, there are 29 special needs students; 23 in seventh and eighth grade and 46 at the high school.

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.