Jan 9, 2019, Concord, MA, Chelmsford Wicked: Chelmsford program aids students’ emotional needs http://chelmsford.wickedlocal.com/news/20190109/chelmsford-program-aids-students-emotional-needs A new program to help elementary school children with emotional challenges is making progress, but faculty and staff are also finding areas in which to learn more. The School Committee heard a presentation on Jan. 8 from Molly McMahon, principal of the South Row School, where the program is housed, and Amy Reese, director of student services. The program, known by its acronym, STRIVE, currently has about eight students enrolled, McMahon said…. McMahon said she and Reese spoke with program staff, which includes a certified behavioral analyst, two special education teachers and to paraprofessionals, with additional support, including from school district guidance and psychology staff…. A pie graph showed that 76.8 percent of the time, students were able to stay in the general classroom setting. Molly said this number contrast with the chart’s 12.7 percent of time spent in breaks outside the classroom as a coping tool, and 10.5 percent of time of removal from the classroom, due to behavior reasons. … Asking about evaluation challenges, Newcomb said, “The primary disability is emotional disability. I know sometimes, you may see kids who have behavioral issues, but who are not necessarily good candidates for the STRIVE program.” … Lang built funds into the 2018-2019 school district budget, following reports, including from faculty and staff, about increased behavioral problems among some elementary school students. …
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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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