March 23, 2017, Vancouver (British Columbia) Sun: Number of B.C. classes with more than three special needs students rises dramatically http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/number-of-b-c-classes-with-more-than-three-special-needs-students-rises-dramatically For what is likely the last time for the foreseeable future, the number of classes with more than three students with special needs rose dramatically across the province once again for this school year. Numbers released by the Ministry of Education this week shows that 17,309 classes (25 per cent of the total classes in B.C.) have four or more students with special needs in the 2016/2017 school year. That’s up 793 classes from last year, the report shows. The number is up 59 per cent since 2005-06, when the B.C. Teachers’ Federation first started tracking the numbers and up by five per cent over last year alone. Also up is the number of classes with seven or more students with special needs. There are now 4,186 such classes, up from 4,163 last year. …
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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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