Feb 5, 2019, NBC Montana: Dyslexia advocates call for official disability recognition https://nbcmontana.com/news/local/dyslexia-advocates-call-for-official-disability-recognition MISSOULA, Mont. — Montana is one of only a handful of states that does not test for or recognize dyslexia as a learning disability. Wednesday the State Senate will hold a hearing for a bill that could change that by next school year. It would define dyslexia as a learning disability, require schools to screen for it and would provide teachers with the right tools to help students…. Gilder, who specializes in teaching students with dyslexia, says 20 percent of the population have it, and many don’t even know it. She says that’s why it’s important for legislation to be passed. “It will get kids screened for dyslexia early, because early intervention is key to getting them at grade level,” said Gilder. “The next part would be to provide the teachers with the right kind of tools to give them the necessary interventions.” Having been a public school teacher herself, Gilder says most teachers -- by no fault of their own -- aren’t trained to recognize dyslexia. If passed, the bill would change that. “Only 30 percent of eighth graders are reading at grade level. In high school, they're not learning how to read anymore, they're reading to learn, and once they can't do that they're going to start struggling in all the other subjects too,” said Gilder….
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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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