Nov 14, 2018, NJ.com: Padded room for timeouts at school is like 'a jail.' District is rethinking policy https://www.nj.com/gloucester-county/index.ssf/2018/11/use_of_padded_jail_room_at_nj_school_to_be_reviewe.html A parent calls the timeout space at his son's South Jersey school "solitary confinement." A Monroe Township School District official says the special room is designed to protect special needs students from hurting themselves or others when they act out and allow them to have a place to retreat when they feel overwhelmed. Concerns about the padded "timeout" or "seclusion" room are now going to be reviewed by the district board of education in the Gloucester County community. "Our son came home one day and said he was put in a room for time out and we asked him to describe the room," Scott Reiss recounted Wednesday. "He said it was a little room. 'It's like a jail,' he said." … Their son -- NJ Advance Media is not naming him -- has ADHD and is on the autism spectrum, Reiss said. … Perry says the space is designed as an area where students can regain their composure if they experience problems with anxiety or behavioral issues, Perry said. "This area is utilized in conjunction with special education related services and interventions, involving behavioral disabilities in which students may become violent toward other students and staff and/or causing harm to themselves," according to the superintendent. "Also, other students, who are classified, utilize this space as a means of safety when they feel emotionally overwhelmed. … "When a child is in there they are not locked in or closed in," Perry said. "There is an adult with them." …
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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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