July 20, 2019, Northampton, MA, Daily Hampshire Gazette: Jackson Street School hires therapy dog https://www.gazettenet.com/Northampton-school-trains-therapy-dog-18934484 Jackson Street School’s first ever therapy dog — a 6-month-old labradoodle named Jackson — arrived in Northampton this week from a training facility in Indiana. “We have some students who have had hard pasts, bad experiences or trouble connecting with others,” Principal Gwen Agna said. “Our dog will really allow students to open up and get the kind of emotional support they need.” When school staff found that certain students with emotional issues in school could better connect and relax with their dogs at home, the administration looked into ways to bring that kind of therapy into the classroom…. “They’ve been really helpful in schools, particularly in the classroom and guidance offices,” Benz said. … For students with social and emotional issues, Jackson will be an important source of unconditional affection and reassurance. For others, he will be a pleasant stress-relieving visitor. … “I can imagine he will inspire students academically as well as socially and emotionally,” Agna 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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