Nov 24, 2018, Marshalltown (IA) Times-Republican: Anson Elementary showcase http://www.timesrepublican.com/news/todays-news/2018/11/anson-elementary-showcase/ Running a school building means adapting to new information and to students’ needs. That’s how Anson Elementary School Principal Ronnie Manis and his team have approached improving student attendance and wellbeing at his building. … Another recent change at Anson has been to convert former “seclusion rooms” for students experiencing behavioral challenges to “peace rooms.” The seclusion rooms were used to give students a place to calm down and talk to staff about how they feel and their behavior, and the peace rooms add comforting elements to the spaces. “It’s very simple things, but they are things that are calming. It is an area where a student can feel safe and feel comfortable and find a way to calm down,”Chyma said. The peace rooms are kept at low light and students can find items like weighted blankets, coloring pages, bean bag chairs, yoga mats, fidget toys and more. “There is a timer in there. The kids have a choice of setting the timer for 10 or 15 minutes, it gives the kid at least 15 minutes to calm down and get to a point where they’re able to discuss what happened,” Chyma said. …
top of page
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
bottom of page