Jan 7, 2019, Bristol (MN) Courier: Integrated mental health services help Minnesota kids https://www.heraldcourier.com/news/integrated-mental-health-services-help-minnesota-kids/article_0a61972b-f63b-5db5-b4b6-85666e72e32e.html SARTELL, Minn. (AP) — Making psychoeducation understandable in a kid-friendly way is one way practice administrator Jill Smith and her co-worker, Megan Corrieri, a licensed professional clinical counselor, help families. Both are part of integrated behavioral health services at the clinic, which offers holistic treatment for a child's mental and physical health. Sartell Pediatrics has offered mental health services for a few years, and hopes to expand. "We had seen a lot of need for it in our own patient population," Smith said. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention estimates one in six U.S. children ages 2-8 have a diagnosed mental, behavioral or developmental disorder. Christensen said anxiety is by far the No. 1 diagnosis for kids. It's followed by disruptive behaviors and mood regulation problems, which can be symptoms of ADHD. Depression is the other most common problem. According to the CDC nearly one in 10 kids age 2-17 have received an ADHD diagnosis, about 7 percent of kids 3-17 have a diagnosed behavior problem, about 7 percent of kids 3-17 have an anxiety diagnosis and about 3 percent of kids 3-17 have a depression diagnosis. … "There's a lot of kids that come in and ... are more oppositional, or really irritable or crabby," Christensen said. They don't have the skills or ability to organize their thoughts, mood and feeling in that moment, Corrieri said. "(The kids are) feeling so overwhelmed that they just lash out," Corrieri 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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