Mar 18, 2019, Levittown, PA, Bucks County Courier Times: Therapy dogs give students educational boost in Bucks schools https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/news/20190318/therapy-dogs-give-students-educational-boost-in-bucks-schools Centennial School District Superintendent David Baugh recently purchased a Yellow Labrador Retriever named Jake who will be both Baugh’s personal pet and the district’s full-time therapy dog. … “Bailey now primarily works with special needs students in Stephanie Lombardo’s classroom,” she said. “Bailey helps keep students calm prior to test taking. Students spend time each week reading to Bailey one-on-one. Many of the students have improved and moved their reading level up a grade level since working with him.” Students also help take care of Bailey, which teaches them responsibility and helps them with general life skills once they leave school, Phy said. Rocky has been an equally valuable asset at Snyder, she added. “In the four years Rocky has been at Snyder, he has helped bring the school together by creating a strong sense of community,” Phy said. “Students who may feel anxious, upset or frustrated visit Rocky to relax and relieve agitation, anxiety and/or stress. Student confidence levels have greatly improved, and they feel more relaxed to participate in classroom discussions and activities.” … “With special ed classes, having the dogs visit on a regular basis helps those students with developing social skills and helps them cognitively and behaviorally,” she said. “Having dogs around helps them to calm down and make them more receptive to new experiences. Our dogs have started visiting some of the specialized classes on the secondary (middle and high schools) level as well.” The dogs assist with autistic support, multiple disability, learning support and life skills classes, Fleck said. … Pennsbury School District Special Education Director Sherri Morett said therapy dogs are used at Quarry Hill and Eleanor Roosevelt elementary schools and Village Park Academy to help students with social, emotional and life skills needs. …
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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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