Mar 11, 2019, Woodstock (ON) Sentinel-Review: School board pushes for more funding for special-needs students https://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/news/local-news/school-board-pushes-for-more-funding-for-special-needs-students/wcm/54161ea6-8e20-4b05-825c-15825f16415d Although she welcomed the resources officially announced Monday by the Ford government, Laura Elliott said only time will tell if the $12,300 per special-needs student is enough to cover the needs of new autistic students coming into schools. Although she welcomed the resources officially announced Monday by the Ford government, Laura Elliott — director of education for the Thames Valley District school board — said only time will tell if the $12,300 per special-needs student is enough to cover the needs of new autistic students coming into schools. “We are looking forward to having more money to support our students with autism, but we need more financial resources from the province overall for our students with special needs,” Elliott told The Free Press. … Education Minister and Tory MPP Lisa Thompson made the announcement Monday, as hundreds of kids may soon enter school because they will get less funding for therapy. Families say that recently announced changes to the Ontario Autism Program that will kick in April 1 mean many of those children currently in government-funded, full-time therapy will have to instead transition into school. The government says there are 1,105 children with autism who are not in school. … “(The education minister) made the announcement and she said $3 billion, but that was the same budget. Before it was $3 billion, and now it’s $3 billion. So it’s the same amount of funds for thousands of more special needs children, that sounds like a cut to me,” Ashton noted. The Thames Valley board spends about $4 million of its own money on top of what it receives from the government to support students with special-education needs, Elliott said…. The government is aiming to clear a wait list of 23,000 kids by spreading an existing pot of money to all children diagnosed with autism, instead of fully funding the treatment. Families will get up to $20,000 a year for treatment for children under six and $5,000 a year for children six to 18 — with the maximum amounts available to families with incomes under $55,000 — but intensive therapy can cost up to $80,000 a year. Many families say they will be unable to cover the difference to keep their kids in full-time therapy. Parents and educators are raising the alarm about what the autism funding changes will mean for the school system. They are concerned that already-stretched educational assistant resources will be spread even thinner…. Hundreds of parents and advocates protested on the lawn of the legislature last week, calling for the government to fund autism therapy based on children’s individual needs, rather than just their age and family income.
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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.
Loss of Brain Trust features over 9,000 news stories published worldwide since January, 2017
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
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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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