May 23, 2018 Johnstown (PA) Tribune—Democrat: Superintendents call on state to help manage student mental health demands http://www.tribdem.com/news/superintendents-call-on-state-to-help-manage-student-mental-health/article_dda3fae0-5eeb-11e8-ae13-3b7d23f05a0c.html As lawmakers strain to find answers to make schools more safe, a group of superintendents came to the Capitol to talk about the challenges facing public schools recognizing and responding to mental health issues of students. … The issue of how schools react to the mental health needs of students has emerged as a key focal point in the state’s consideration of how to respond to try to prevent school shootings, school leaders and lawmakers said Wednesday. Lehman and other administrators told lawmakers on the Senate judiciary committee that the state needs to provide schools with ongoing funding to hire more social workers and guidance counselors to respond to the emotional and mental health needs of students. …
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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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