Oct 2, 2018, Irish Examiner: Special-needs schools ask for staff training on the safe restraint of pupils https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/special-needs-schools-ask-for-staff-training-on-the-safe-restraint-of-pupils-872765.html Special schools want training for teachers and other staff on the physical restraint of pupils. The National Association of Boards of Management in Special Education (NABMSE) said it understands concerns expressed by parents and children in a document published last week about improper use of restraint and seclusion in schools. The Inclusion Ireland report highlighted 14 cases in which parents said their children with disabilities were injured or traumatised from being physically restrained by staff or secluded in unsuitable rooms without supervision…. Last week, the department said it had been working for the past year on guidelines, which it expects to publish by next summer. The guidelines would help with the correct response when a student poses a threat of harm to themselves or to others. “We are advised that the... guidelines [are being] designed to provide more comprehensive guidance on how this very complex aspect of our education system can be managed,” said Breda Corr, general secretary of NABMSE, which represents 200 special schools and mainstream primary schools that have pupils who have special educational needs. We would welcome the early publication of these guidelines and the provision of related training for all school staff involved in this field,” she 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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