Oct 25, 2018, Dublin Gazette: Scoil Chiarain parents band together to raise sensory room funds https://dublingazette.com/news/news-city-edition/glasnevin-scoil-chiarain-50145/ Parents of pupils attending Scoil Chiarain in Glasnevin have raised over €10,000 [$14K+ US dollars] for a sensory room, after the Department of Education have failed to provide them with funding. Scoil Chiarain in Glasnevin caters specifically for children with ‘mild general learning disabilities’ from ages 5 to 18, some of whom have autism or challenging behaviours. Parents have been petitioning the Department for funding for a sensory room for children who become distressed, but have said that despite repeated promises, the Department have failed to provide any funding for the room, or an extension. Fiona Hogan, whose son Cormac attends Scoil Chiarain, said that the sensory room is a vital requirement, as a child who is in distress can impact on the learning of other students. ... “Because some of the children have autism, have behavioural diagnoses, have down syndrome, this Sensory room is as essential in this school as toilets would be in the building. They need a calming sensory room. ... “There’s a mainstream school in Donnycarney that even has a sensory room, and here’s a school with 140 pupils serving the whole of North Dublin for children that have learning difficulties, that have challenging behaviour, and they have no sensory room.” ...
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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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