Sept 4, 2018, Fox 4, Dallas, TX: Program brings virtual counselors to schools http://www.fox4news.com/good-day/program-brings-virtual-counselors-to-schools Some school districts are using advanced technology to help students who are having a difficult day. Children’s Health’s new virtual counseling program is already being used for both high school and middle school students in Carrollton-Farmers Branch, Wylie and Denison. Mental health is a big issue for kids now more than ever. Children’s Health estimates there are 1.2 million children just in Texas who have some sort of mental disorder. “These kids are able to access counseling through school. They are in school and it’s virtual counseling. They’re super comfortable with technology. We all know that,” said Rosanna Sanchez, the hospital’s behavioral health care manager. Sanchez said school counselors identify kids to start the process of short-term therapy with six to eight sessions. The counselors meet with their parents and then the kids can download an app to chat with a medical professional. They can talk to counselors about things like stress, anxiety, self-esteem issues, depression or any other problems they are having in life. “The short-term program has been very successful,” Sanchez said. “The need is there. We’re just looking to see where we are expanding it the most. And so it’s definitely going to be in more school districts soon.”
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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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