Mar 10, 2018, Martinsburg (WV) Journal: Mental health awareness effort hits area schools http://www.journal-news.net/news/local-news/2018/03/mental-health-awareness-effort-hits-area-schools/ Some are calling mental illness a silent epidemic — especially among children –and schools are working to spread awareness and help students. … Up to one in five kids living in the U.S. shows signs or symptoms of a mental health disorder in a given year, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. So, in a classroom of 25 students, five of them may be struggling with the same issues many adults face, from depression to anxiety. Whether treated or not, children still attend school. The struggles they face can be directly linked to major problems found in schools like chronic absence, low achievement, disruptive behavior and dropping out, experts said. … Ledford added mental health education should be more prevalent in schools. … Recently, steps have been made in Berkeley County to implement mental health resources for educators and families. Project AWARE, a grant program implemented in 2016, is designed to help state and local education agencies increase awareness of mental health issues among school-age youth. It is also designed to train educators and other youth-serving adults in “Youth Mental Health First,” so they may detect and respond to mental health issues, as well as connecting children, youth and families who may experience behavioral health issues with appropriate services. …
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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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