June 22, 2018, Holland (MI) Sentinel: Quick Hits: Four thoughts on this week’s news http://www.hollandsentinel.com/news/20180622/quick-hits-four-thoughts-on-this-weeks-news …Mental health needs addressing in the open …As suicide rates went up by more than 30 percent in half of states since 1999, over half of those who died by suicide did not have any known mental health condition. … ... But the numbers are there: Suicide rose by almost 33 percent here in Michigan since 1999. There are people out there who are struggling. We need to start a conversation in the community to put a support system in place so those people can receive the help they need. It also comes back to kids not always being able to manage life’s challenges. A 2017 Ottawa County Youth Assessment Survey found that depression and suicide attempts have risen among Ottawa County teens; about 19 percent of those studied said they had seriously thought about attempting suicide in the past year, up from 15 percent in 2016. School should be teaching kids more than just algebra and chemistry; school counselors should take the time to teach students coping and problem-solving skills so that they can better handle life’s challenges and maybe avoid going down that dark road of depression and anxiety.
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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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