Oct 25, 2018, Fox17, Nashville: Youth probation officer believes court is overwhelmed with elementary school students https://fox17.com/news/local/youth-probation-officer-believes-court-is-overwhelmed-with-elementary-school-students It's a fear that is the reality of many teachers, students attacking them. It's not just high school students misbehaving, sometimes it's the little kids too. … JaMita Bobo, a youth probation officer…. has been a youth probation officer for 10 years. She says bringing little kids through the court system is overwhelming court staff and doesn’t fix the kid’s behavior problem. “A lot of the smaller kids are really getting in trouble and they're trying to send them to juvenile court and you're calling him this and he's six. He's in kindergarten. This is how kindergartners act,” said Bobo. Bobo says the court system has been overwhelmed with elementary students. Last year 1,020 elementary students were suspended. The majority of those students are in third and fourth grade. … Little kids in big trouble is a sobering reality for retired elementary teacher and principal Gracie Porter who briefly came out of retirement last year to help fill teacher vacancies. “There were some difficult days," Porter said. "I must admit, far different from what it was when I was a teacher and principal." Porter says she prefers talking with students, but admits the classroom has become a scary place for some teachers.
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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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