Dec 5, 2018, Education Week: Special Education a Growing Priority in Teacher-Training Circles https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/12/05/special-education-a-growing-priority-in-teacher-training.html Lisa Nelson earned a master's degree in middle school education and taught for five years. But she never learned much about dyslexia until her own daughter began struggling in school. … "Dyslexia is the most common learning disability. ... If teachers are not getting training for the most common reading failure, then what percentage are getting trained in anything else?" asked Nelson, who has since co-founded the Massachusetts chapter of the advocacy group Decoding Dyslexia. Students with disabilities make up about 13 percent of the public school student population, according to 2015-16 federal data. Because of the inclusion movement, which says that students with disabilities should be educated alongside their nondisabled peers, 63 percent of those millions of students with disabilities spend the majority of their day in general education classrooms. Yet historically, many colleges of education have offered just one or two courses on special education for their general education teacher-candidates. Advocates say that's not enough to know how to teach students with such learning disabilities as dyslexia or other conditions like autism or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. "This is the first time in history where so many kids with disabilities are being taught in general education classrooms," said Michael Gottfried, an associate professor in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "I do think a lot of it is happening without so much preparation on the teacher side." But there's hope the tide is turning, educators say: More colleges of education and state education departments are beginning to put a priority on teaching their general classroom teachers how to work with students with disabilities. … Statistic shown: “177% increase in the autism category over the past decade for the 3 to 21 year olds, the fastest growing disability category.”
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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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