Jan 23, 2019, Birmingham Alabama News Center: APSO’s sensory room at Jones Elementary is a hit with kids, teachers https://alabamanewscenter.com/2019/01/23/apsos-sensory-room-jones-elementary-hit-kids-teachers/ Elementary School in Rainbow City, it’s not unusual to hear peals of joy — and the excitement isn’t coming only from students. The school’s six special-education teachers are just as thrilled about the 300-square-foot addition, said longtime Principal Tanya Clark, who has been at John Jones Elementary for several years. Members of the Eastern Division Chapter of the Alabama Power Service Organization (APSO) installed equipment for the new sensory space on Jan. 17-18. The room is designed to meet the needs of the school’s 80 students with autism and sensory issues. “We are so excited, because we could have never afforded this on our own,” Clark said. “We have a large special needs population to begin with.” “The sensory room will be a place for them to go in and explore and engage,” she said. “The sensory items in there will hopefully give students that are distressed or over-stimulated a place to calm down, to be able to come in and sit in the swings or walk on the floor tiles, listen to the sounds and see the lights.”… Eastern APSO supplied two ceiling-to-floor hanging swings, gel floor tiles that “move” with children’s steps, bean bag chairs, a calming light projector, a bubble lamp with colorful fish that “swim” in the water, a swing for two children, earphones, loads of fidget toys to keep little hands busy and five weighted blankets to calm and comfort kids. Maudsley recruited Brad Wilson of Pier One Piledriving to install the swings. Bryan Holderfield painted the walls a pale, calming shade of blue to match other school walls, compliments of Sherwin-Williams. …
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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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