June 25, 2018,Windsor Star: Ontario school survey finds demand for mental health services rising http://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/ontario-school-survey-finds-demand-for-mental-health-services-rising Ontario’s schools are seeing an increasing number of students with mental health issues and principals are frustrated they’re spending too much time on just managing their schools rather than working on student and staff development. … “Mental health services are often inaccessible,” said David Cameron, director of research for People for Education. We’re trying to be proactive in helping students earlier to prevent anxieties from becoming a bigger problem Among elementary schools, 94 per cent reported they’d reached out to local mental health organizations while 100 per cent of secondary schools reported they’d done the same. Twenty six per cent of high school guidance counsellors reported they spent more time on one-on-one counselling regarding mental health issues than anything else. The figure at the elementary level was 20 per cent. … “A lot of (the rising numbers) has to do with more awareness and advocating for help.” … With demand exceeding supply for mental health professionals across the province, boards are also adding more guidance counsellors or creating mental healthcare teams. “The equivalent of eight fulltime guidance positions were added in the budget for the next (school) year,” said Scott Scantlebury, communications officer for the Greater Essex County District School Board. …
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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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