May 24, 2019, Lewiston (ME) Sun Journal: Lawmakers seek to track, reduce schools’ use of restraint and seclusion https://www.sunjournal.com/2019/05/23/lawmakers-seek-to-track-reduce-schools-use-of-restraints-and-seclusion/ AUGUSTA — A legislative committee endorsed a bill Thursday that aims to improve tracking of how often Maine schools physically restrain or place students in seclusion. The bill would require schools to provide more detailed annual reports to the state on the number of instances of restraint or seclusion of students, as well as any injuries incurred by either students or staff. The proposal also would require the Maine Department of Education to develop plans to monitor trends at individual schools and to increase professional development to help staff avoid and manage incidents with unruly or dangerous students…. “You don’t need to be an educator if you are shoving kids in mop closets,” said Rep. Justin Fecteau, R-Augusta. Fecteau was responding to one incident detailed in a report on restraint and seclusion that was released last week by the nonprofit advocacy organization Disability Rights Maine. The report found that use of physical restraints and seclusion jumped 60 percent – from 12,000 to 20,000 instances – in four years in Maine schools. Roughly 77 to 79 percent of those incidences involved students with disabilities or who were in special education programs. And the majority of restraint or seclusion cases occurred at “special purpose private schools” that exclusively serve students with disabilities or special needs, according to the report. … Fecteau raised concerns that egregious cases of restraint or seclusion that would make headlines if they occurred in a typical classroom are being tolerated when they involve special education students. Fecteau said he would like to see firmer enforcement mechanisms – including holding principals accountable – if schools tolerate such treatment of students or fail to accurately report incidents to the state….
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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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