May 29, 2019, Grand Forks (ND) Herald: School Board OKs new position in special education https://www.grandforksherald.com/news/education/1353799-School-Board-OKs-new-position-in-special-education The Grand Forks School Board approved a new administrative position, a full-time assistant director of special education for the school district, at its most recent meeting. The new position was requested by Superintendent Terry Brenner, who outlined the increased workload that the executive director of special education, Tricia Lee, is handling. “We don’t bring these 'asks' very lightly,” Brenner told board members at Tuesday’s meeting. “Special education is becoming more complex, more complicated every year.” … Since 2013, the district’s special education student population has increased by 230 students, Brenner said. About 1,300 students are enrolled in the special education program. Lee has reported that 18 percent of the student population is in special education -- a figure that is higher than the state and national averages, Brenner said. And she expects more students will be enrolled next year. Over the last few years, due to an increase in students with IEPs, or Individualized Education Program, with significant issues, Lee’s role has become more involved in “legal fires relative to what the district can and cannot do with special education,” Brenner said. “These demands significantly affect Dr. Lee’s availability to meet the regular demands of the day-to-day operations of the Special Education Department,” he said. …
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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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