May 30, 2019, Otago Daily Times: Attack leave Southland teacher with nerve damage https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/southland/attack-leaves-southland-teacher-nerve-damage A Southland teacher of children with special needs says she's one of many who have suffered physical attacks because of a lack of classroom support. Lou Dickson marched in the teachers' strike yesterday for more resources to help her students - and to make her work safer. She said she had been left with permanent nerve damage after a 15-year-old with severe autism punched her in the back last October…. But it's not the first time she has been injured by an agitated student. "Eighteen months ago, another (severely) autistic child lost the plot a little bit; he was over-sensitised in the room, lost it and just started punching and kicking me and just managed to get me on the side, dislocated my knee-cap and put me on crutches."… "She's at school for 32 hours a week and she gets 18 hours of teacher-aid funding, and the ministry say it's OK for her to be in my classroom with me, with two high-needs autistic boys that can kick off, and at times I have to deal with all that with no teacher aid. " She said special education students needed more teacher-aid hours, and better-designed classrooms to keep them calm and teachers and students safe.

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.