May 18, 2018, (Canada) Vancouver (BC) Tyee: Schools Still Secluding and Restraining Special Needs Students: Report https://thetyee.ca/News/2018/05/18/Schools-Secluding-And-Restraining-Special-Needs-Students/ It’s been five years since a B.C. disability rights group blew the whistle on public schools’ common practice of restraining or secluding students, the majority with special needs. But a new report from Inclusion BC shows the practice hasn’t gone away, and previous government action has yielded minimal results. Released on May 16, Stop Hurting Kids II details survey responses from 170 parents and guardians who completed the organization’s 44 question online survey last fall. Inclusion BC executive director Faith Bodnar told The Tyee she believes there are even more parents with children who’ve been restrained or secluded, but a combination of not knowing about the survey, fearing repercussions from speaking out, or not knowing what’s happening to their kids have kept those voices silent. “This survey and the one in 2013 said most parents don’t find out except by someone telling them who witnessed it, or happening to be in the school at an unexpected time and they see it,” she said. … Of those who did participate in the survey, the majority identified their children as being male between the ages of five and eight, and having some ministry-recognized special needs designation. Instances of seclusion and restraint dropped off as children got older. Of the parents who reported their child being restrained in the 2016/17 school year, there were five reports of students being restrained in school on a daily basis, and five on a weekly basis. Methods of restraint ranged from being tied to a chair, restrained while lying face down, and even forced into a large Rubbermaid tote. Of those who reported instances of seclusion, where students are kept in a space alone that they are physically prevented from leaving on their own, nine survey respondents reported their children being left in seclusion for more than three hours, and one report of a student who was kept away from other children all day, every day. … “We heard reports of physical harm, emotional and psychological trauma. One of the reports is that it took the family three weeks for their child to actually de-escalate and calm down. It caused anxiety and an unwillingness to go back to school,” she said. … While no new funding is attached for teacher training, special needs education is included in the ongoing public school funding review, the results of which are expected by the end of this summer. Fleming also pointed to the additional 140 full-time equivalent (FTE) special education teacher positions, 600 FTE education assistant positions, and 180 FTE teacher psychologist positions in the province hired since the 2016/17 school year, all of whom work directly with students with special needs. …
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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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