June 26, 2018, Marlborough, MA, Middlesex Patch: Middlesex Partnerships for Youth Gets Significant Grant https://patch.com/massachusetts/marlborough/middlesex-partnerships-youth-gets-significant-grant Middlesex Partnerships for Youth (MPY), a nonprofit organization that finds proactive solutions to serious social problems facing youth, was recently awarded a $100,000 Cummings Grant. MPY was one of the 100 local nonprofits selected to receive a grant from the "100k for 100 program"; a total of 597 applicants competed for this significant grant…. MPY focuses on student health and safety covering four dimensions: physical, social, emotional and academic. High quality conferences about safety and mental health topics are offered to school staff. In addition, MPY's in-service program provides member school districts with workshops on topics such as Cyber Safety, Teen Dating Relationships, Substance Use and Bullying…. "Some of the most important social emotional issues the Marlborough Public Schools is focusing on are school anxiety, school avoidance/phobia and supporting students who have a trauma history," said Sharon Buckley, supervisor of counseling services for the district, in a statement." These issues and concerns are not exclusive of each other and often are accompanied by depression or substance use/abuse," Superintendent Maureen Greulich said, "MPY has identified critical social emotional needs among students and offers a wide variety of workshops and important supports that have helped our students and families. Our goal is to continue building our internal resources and working closely with MPY to meet the diverse needs of our school community."
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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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