June 6, 2017, Charleston (WV) Gazette-Mail: Teachers’ union opposes proposed WV special education policy change http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-education/20170606/teachers-union-opposes-proposed-wv-special-education-policy-change
The American Federation of Teachers’ West Virginia branch is opposing a proposed statewide limitation that no more than half of individual general education classrooms in core subjects could consist of students receiving specially designed instruction for disabilities.
Christine Campbell, president of the school employees union, said she wants 30 percent to be the maximum allowed proportion of those students before county public school systems would be required to provide support staff. …
Beck said that when monitors observed classrooms, they sometimes saw much more than the recommended 30 percent. She said monitors had seen up to a 75 percent proportion in “co-taught” classrooms, which have two teachers.
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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.)
CHECK OUT MY SUBSTACK:
https://annedachel.substack.com/
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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