Aug 8, 2019, New Zealand Herald: Health check: NZ children with autism wait half their life for diagnosis, and wait again for help https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12254889 Girls with autism spectrum disorder are diagnosed later than boys because they are better at masking it. According to one source, the average diagnosis age is 14 compared to 8 for boys. Parents are able to detect if their child has autism at about 2 or 3 years old. It might be that they don't coo or babble away when they're an infant, or that they can't string a couple of words together at age 2. Despite this ability to pick up signs of autism spectrum disorder early, children are often not diagnosed until after they've begun school in New Zealand. For girls, the wait is likely to be even longer.
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.
Loss of Brain Trust features over 9,000 news stories published worldwide since January, 2017
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