Nov 30, 2018, Irish Sun: MUMS' AUTISM AGONY ‘My 4-year-old screamed ‘die, die, die’ as he tried to kill his baby brother’: Parents reveal agony of vulnerable kids with extreme autism https://www.thesun.ie/fabulous/3457965/my-4-year-old-screamed-die-die-die-as-he-tried-to-kill-his-baby-brother-parents-reveal-agony-of-vulnerable-kids-with-extreme-autism/ From stamping on their parents' heads to trying to stab themselves with knives, these vulnerable children have violent meltdowns caused by a disorder on the autistic spectrum … It's one of many violent episodes 13-year-old William has had over the past few years, caused by an extreme form of Autism that forces him to lash out - harming himself and others. … William is one of thousands of children in the UK suffering from PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance) - a behavioural profile on the autism spectrum. Having PDA means the brain can't understand demands or process them in a normal way. Simple requests, a change of routine or finding objects out of place can spark extreme fear for the children with it, and the violence they emit is a reaction to feeling frightened and unable to communicate. Triggered by anything from a smell he doesn't like, to being asked to do the simplest of tasks like getting dressed, William will lash out with violence - then doesn't remember what happened. At just nine years old, he was arrested and locked in a cell for punching his mum in the face. … “On the occasion he tried to kill his little brother, I took one of his stars away, but he was so upset and having 'failed' at the chart that he smashed up the entire house - emptying all of the cupboards and smashing plates," Tanya says…. 'My daughter tried to stab herself with a carving knife' Also opening up about the challenges of looking after children with autism is Jayne, whose daughter Sienna, 10, was diagnosed when she was five years old. Janye describes Sienna's behaviour as like "Jekyll and Hyde" and says at times her meltdowns have become so bad she has tried to harm herself and other family members. …
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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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