Feb 18, 2019, Irish Examiner: Moving the goalposts won’t solve the problem of autism assessment wait lists https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/specialreports/moving-the-goalposts-wont-solve-the-problem-of-autism-assessment-wait-lists-905101.html Every year sees more and more delayed autism assessments. The HSE has a proposal to fix the problem, but is it simply a case of lack of resources? Michael Clifford reports. On Friday, February 7, the latest case about children being denied their rights was before the High Court. The case concerned three boys who have displayed symptoms consistent with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Their mother urgently wants her sons’ needs assessed in order to access treatment, if required. Early intervention is vital in attending to ASD. It can make the difference between somebody making giant strides towards functioning emotionally and socially or retreating into an often impenetrable cocoon. This reality is acknowledged in law. The 2005 Disability Act provides that children be assessed within a tight timeframe so that tailored treatment can be identified and started expeditiously. However, the HSE has consistently failed to comply with the law. Repeatedly, children have not been assessed within the legal timeframe, thus exposing them to a greater threat of not receiving treatment in a timely manner. The recent case before the High Court illustrates the point. Under the 2005 act, children must be assessed within three months of applying. A report of the assessment must be completed within another three months. The High Court heard that an application to have the three boys assessed was lodged in late March 2018. Yet nearly one year later, they are still waiting. … Yet thousands of children are being denied their right to timely assessment. According to HSE figures, the number of assessment applications not completed in the designated 90-day timeframe in 2008 was 1,143. By 2017, this figure had risen to 2,154. By October of last year, 3,662 assessments were overdue. Inevitably, this failure to observe the rights of children is going to lead to legal actions for damages. … Everybody agrees the current model is not working. Children’s rights are being abused. Increasingly, recourse is sought in the courts, eating up time and money. The prospects of wholesale actions for damages looms…. There are at least 13,700 children of school-going age who have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, according to a recent report. The report, ‘Estimating Prevalence of ASD In The Irish Population’ was commissioned by the Department of Health and published last November…. The NCSE data does not take account of “the number of four-year-olds that are not in school, or children aged four or older who are on the Home Tuition scheme and not included in overall school population figures.” …
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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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