June 17, 2019, The Irish Times: Learning difficulties: Schools may be forced to open special classes—Parents protest in Dublin and Cork over shortage of special needs places in schools https://www.irishtimes.com/news/education/learning-difficulties-schools-may-be-forced-to-open-special-classes-1.3927472 Schools could be ordered to provide places for children with special needs due to an acute shortage of appropriate education places for children with autism and other learning difficulties, the National Council for Special Education(NCSE) has said. The council wrote to Minister for Education Joe McHugh recently to advise that there was insufficient special school and special class capacity in west Dublin. The letter outlined the formal steps contained in new legislation – the Education (Admissions to School) Act 2018 – which gives the Minister for Education the power to direct a school to open additional places. Dozens of parents who attended protests marches in Dublin and Cork over the weekend say there are shortages of appropriate school places right across the State. Other parents of children with intellectual disabilities, ranging from moderate to severe, say they have been turned away from special schools on the grounds that they are oversubscribed. Linda Comerford, spokeswoman for the Enough is Enough campaign which organised protests in Dublin and Cork on Saturday, said parents of many children with special needs were stressed and worried about the coming school year. … ... But for parents of children who require access to special schools and ASD [autism spectrum disorder] classes, the situation for hundreds is that they are unable to access an appropriate school placement.” The Department of Education said it aims to ensure all children with special needs have access to an education appropriate to their needs, preferably in mainstream school settings. Last year it spent €1.75 billion [$2.5B US dollars] on special education, nearly one-fifth of the overall education budget…. Mr McHugh said recently that the new power to compel schools to make additional special education provision available had yet to be invoked…. At the protest in Cork on Saturday, Siobhán Higgins from Dunmanway said she was struggling to find a primary school place for her five-year-old daughter Hannah, who has special needs. While there was a special needs class in the town, she said they have been told their only option was to travel 26km from their home in west Cork....
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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.
Loss of Brain Trust features over 9,000 news stories published worldwide since January, 2017
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
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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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