July 26, 2018, Kansas City Star: Reducing anxiety, raising grades: therapy dogs ‘bring a calm’ to KC-area schools https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article215184605.html … From there her mission took off. With permission from her middle school principal, Slaven joined the growing trend of Kansas City area school educators who are bringing therapy animals into schools. By June she raised $20,000 through the Olathe Public Schools Foundation to adopt and train a therapy dog. Now, she is spending the summer training her newly adopted mutt, Sampson, so he can be ready to begin work with students in the fall…. Sampson will serve three main roles as a therapy dog. He will work with students in Santa Fe Middle’s program for emotionally traumatized students, one of two such programs in the district. He will accompany Slaven on trips to other buildings as part of the crisis management team. And he will also just be a dog, a happy, non-judgmental presence for all students at Santa Fe Middle and Washington Elementary. … The Olathe school district has been increasing its focus on mental health because the numbers of students diagnosed with mental disorders is increasing, Slaven said. … Kids today have more stress than previous generations, Stump and Boucher agree…. “It seems to be epidemic, anxiety and depression,” Mahan said. “I’m not sure the answer to it but it just seems to be so prevalent and it’s kind of frightening to me as a counselor. I’ve seen more and more kids not be able to come into school so we have to get creative as educators.”…
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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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