Jan 30, 2019, Advertiser: Louisiana educators seek new remedies for student behavior problems https://www.theadvertiser.com/story/news/2019/01/30/louisiana-educators-seek-new-remedies-student-behavior-problems/2721693002/ More than 1,400 Louisiana educators were in Baton Rouge Wednesday for the first Behavioral Intervention Summit. The event is designed to introduce attendees to national experts, engage them in conversations about social/emotional learning and behavioral challenges and equip them with resources to build support at traditional public schools and alternative sites. … Topics included how to respond to behavior rooted in trauma or stress; how to implement an effective student code of conduct; how to enhance school climate; how to engage families in behavior intervention; how educators’ cultural competency impacts discipline; and how to forge community partnerships for expanded mental health support and other services. “It is time we rethink discipline in our schools,” said Tangipahoa Parish Superintendent Melissa Stilley, who gave the event’s opening remarks. … In response, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved a new accountability system in 2018 that will rate alternative sites based on formulas better aligned to their missions. BESE also increased standards for alternative education sites to be authorized. At the same time, Louisiana began identifying schools whose students are highly likely to experience an out-of-school behavioral intervention. These schools, labeled Urgent Intervention Required, must submit improvement plans to the state. In June, those schools labeled Urgent Intervention Required will submit their improvement plans to the state for approval. Schools will be notified of their approval in July and may receive funding to support their plans in August. “Fostering social and emotional well-being for all of our students, but in particular those students who have previously struggled in the traditional setting, is critical if we are to ensure students are equipped to handle the demands of life outside of the classroom,” said Doris Voitier, a BESE member and St. Bernard Parish superintendent. “Our work to provide students with supportive school and classroom environments begins with our ability to equip our teachers and leaders with the tools necessary to provide behavioral interventions and strategies.”
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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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