Nov 16, 2018, Riverhead (NY) Local: School officials urge whole-child approach to achieve student success https://riverheadlocal.com/2018/11/16/school-officials-urge-whole-child-approach-to-achieve-student-success/ The Riverhead Central School District is looking to combine social and emotional development with academics as a way to foster student success, according to a report presented by Superintendent Dr. Aurelia Henriquez during a school board meeting Tuesday night. The district — again deemed a focus district in June by the New York State Education Department — has been falling short on its academic goals for the last three years. … Henriquez said that by looking at students as a “whole” they were able to discern that a key component was missing, that of the social and emotional development of a student, which research shows plays a critical role in academic performance. … Overall, the levels of poverty in the Riverhead school district, combined with other issues children may experience, translate into a higher risk of going through adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, which “literally wreaks havoc on the mind and body,” said Henriquez. The superintendent said that research shows that ACEs in children at critically and sensitive developmental periods—which include many types of trauma in varying degrees — directly affect brain development. This in turn can lead to a wide range of problems including poor school and work performance, chronic disease, psychiatric disorders, obesity, crime and more. … “Students with disabilities are not doing well,” said director of pupil personnel Eileen Manitta. About 86 percent of Riverhead’s special education students were placed at level one, compared to 65 percent of New York State students. Only one percent of Riverhead’s students with disabilities were placed at level four, compared to five percent of students statewide. Manitta said ”too many kids are in restrictive environments,” there are “too many suspensions,” and that race and ethnicity play a role since black and Latino kids are disproportionately more affected when it comes to suspensions, classifications and restrictive settings. … “As a district we are failing at every level, we have had a huge decline in learning over the last three years even though we have all these resources,” she said in an interview. “I look forward to the changes of the superintendent and I really hope that she really turns it around here.” “This report is really eye-opening and I don’t think parents know the crisis we are in as a community and as a school,” she 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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