Sept 15, 2018, Irish Times: Dyscalculia: Why maths doesn’t add up for some of us https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/dyscalculia-why-maths-doesn-t-add-up-for-some-of-us-1.3628162 Many suffer from dyscalculia, a problem as common as dyslexia but seldom diagnose… This week, researchers in Northern Ireland published research which found that many children are suffering from this developmental condition but are not aware of it. A team of academics at Queen’s University Belfast examined the performance of more than 2,400 primary schoolchildren and found that some 112 children had a specific learning disorder in maths. However, just one of these children had been previously diagnosed with dyscalculia. The prevalence of the condition is estimated to be about 6 to 6.5 per cent. While this rate similar to dyslexia – which affects reading and spelling – there is far less awareness of dyscalculia. In fact, the research team estimates that a child with dyslexia is more than 100 times as likely to receive an official diagnosis and educational support than one with dyscalculia. Less awareness So why are so few children being diagnosed? Máirín Barry, a former lecturer on special education needs at the UCD school of education, says there is far less awareness of the conditions even among specialists….
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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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