July 7, 2018, Norwalk (CT) News Times: Newtown nonprofit’s message embraced in New Hampshire https://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Newtown-nonprofit-s-message-embraced-in-New-13054944.php Newtown, CT Scarlett Lewis believes that the negative thinking at the heart of bullying, teenage substance abuse and school violence can be transformed by teaching kids how to choose love in any circumstance. The idea came to her after her 6-year-old son, Jesse, was massacred with 19 classmates and six educators at Sandy Hook School in 2012. “It occurred to me that this whole tragedy happened because of a negative thought in Adam Lanza’s head,” said Lewis, referring to the 20-year-old shooter. “Negative thoughts can be changed into loving thoughts.”… A key recommendation in a recent report by a statewide school safety task force is to implement an emotional development curriculum promoted by Lewis’ foundation, the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement. “New Hampshire will provide a backbone of support through Scarlett’s program,” said New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu in a prepared statement. “We are adding these proactive and preventative measures not only for violence, but for addiction, suicide, and the toxic anxiety that has plagued our school children for too long.” New Hampshire becomes the first state to embrace the curriculum, known as social and emotional learning, or SEL. It is a decades-old concept with a body of research behind it that Lewis has been promoting in school districts across the country for several years…. “Social and emotional learning is all about awareness and mindfulness,” Lewis said on Friday. “If you think about the thoughts that go through your head you realize, ‘I do have a lot of negative thoughts, and I do have a choice about what I think about.’” The goal of the program is not only to reduce self-destructive behavior in school but to promote better attendance, improved test scores, and higher graduation rates… By teaching students how to manage their emotions and make social connections, the program builds resilience students can use to overcome the root causes of red flag behavior in school, Lewis 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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