Aug 31, 2018, Irish Times: Hundreds of autistic teenagers in ‘inappropriate’ schools https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/hundreds-of-autistic-teenagers-in-inappropriate-schools-1.3613053 ‘Urgent need’ to invest in secondary school places for such children, warns campaigner Hundreds of teenagers with autism are in “inappropriate” secondary schools, or not in school at all, due to a dearth of suitable places, a leading rights campaigner has warned. Adam Harris, who has autism and is founder and chief executive of AsIAm, said while there had been significant and welcome increase in supports at primary school level for children with autism, it was like “falling off a cliff” at secondary level. Across whole areas of south Dublin, until last year, not one secondary school had an autism unit. In addition there had been insufficient investment in “special schools” – deemed most suitable for some children with autism and additional complex needs…. Principal at Christopher’s national school, Carmel Dempsey, described as a “growing issue” the anxiety among parents of autistic children about whether they would secure a suitable secondary school place. Mr Harris said there was an “urgent need” to invest in appropriate secondary school places for children with autism and called for it to become mandatory on all mainstream secondary schools to provide spaces for autistic children….
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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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