Oct 24, 2019, Inforum: Fargo (ND) Moorhead (MN): Proposal would expand Lewis & Clark Elementary to create calm space for special needs students https://www.inforum.com/news/education/4735742-Proposal-would-expand-Lewis-Clark-Elementary-to-create-calm-space-for-special-needs-students FARGO — At the Nov. 26 meeting of the Fargo School Board, district staff plan to present a proposal to remodel and expand Lewis & Clark Elementary School — a move school officials say would create a space where children with neurological challenges can learn and grow. Children who have conditions like autism or emotional disorders can sometimes be triggered by something in their environment, resulting in unwanted behaviors. The spaces proposed for Lewis & Clark would be designed to keep such triggers to a minimum, said Superintendent Rupak Gandhi. … There is no separate setting for elementary students with more extreme behaviors in the area. Students with disabilities, including autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and emotional disturbance disorders, are generally educated alongside peers without such disabilities. The school district formed a task force made up of teachers, administrators, legislators, advocates and parents to recommend the best setting for a program assisting students with behavior-related conditions and the group reported in early 2019 that its top choice for a program would be a regional center that wasn't attached to a current building. However, there wasn't a clear consensus and the task force emphasized the importance of trained staff and temporary placement in whatever setting is decided on. … Gandhi said the new spaces would pay close attention to environmental factors such as light and sound and aim to reduce the chances a child would be triggered and display undesired behaviors. He said the district does not have the resources to create such environments in every school, so the proposed work would be a way to centralize services for special needs elementary students in Fargo and possibly other North Dakota communities…. Brenda Ruehl, who works as a disabilities advocate for the North Dakota Protection and Advocacy Project, an independent state agency, said she believes that rather than spend millions of dollars on a building project, the school district's money would be better spent on training and staff to provide services in the classrooms it already has. "You can have the prettiest environment with lots of calming rooms, but if you don't have the appropriate staff, you're not going to change anything," Ruehl said. "You have to have the appropriate and professional experienced, skilled staff to make change and we don't even have that right now in the Fargo Public Schools for our special ed kids," she added. … \
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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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