Oct 21, 2018, Stuff: At school in nappies: Anxious parents seek help with toilet-training new entrants https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/107913017/At-school-in-nappies-Anxious-parents-seek-help-with-toilet-training-new-entrants A lot of children appear to start school who aren't potty-trained. New Zealand children are starting school in nappies, and growing numbers of anxious parents are looking for help to get their children toilet-trained in time. Plunket says it is normal for one in ten 5-year-olds to be still wetting themselves, at least at night, and Continence NZ says up to one in three still have daytime accidents up to the age of 11. But parents like Sam, 38, from Auckland have tried everything in their power to ensure their child is toilet-trained in time and failed. … Primary school teachers, who asked not to be named, have confirmed that children are starting school wearing pull-ups, and others are only just out of nappies. … While some cases were related to other learning and behavioural problems, some were just about toilet-training…. Massey University senior lecturer in clinical psychology Dr Kirsty Ross said anxiety was on the increase in children, which could sometimes play a role with health issues. … "There's this fear 'my child is the only one doing this', which isn't the case at all," Ross said.
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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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