Oct 14, 2018, Staunton (VA) News Leader: When non-restraint methods failed, schools called police 150 times in the last 5 years https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/local/2018/10/14/schools-staunton-waynesboro-augusta-call-police-help/1291877002/ All three local school districts reported zero-use of restraint or seclusion in dealing with students in crisis over the last five years, as previously reported in The News Leader. The number does not tell the whole story, however. There's a hidden partner in the school districts' collective success. When a crisis cannot be de-escalated and a child is a danger to themselves or others, the schools call the police. And the police come. Local law enforcement answered 157 calls for children in crisis in public schools in the last five years, according to data the News Leader compiled from Staunton and Waynesboro police departments and the Augusta County Sheriffs Office…. Police issued an Emergency Custody Order in 35 of those incidents, in which a person who is considered to be a danger to themselves or others may be restrained by law enforcement and transported to Augusta Health for a mental health evaluation. In a dozen other incidents, all in Waynesboro, students agreed voluntarily to be escorted to Augusta Health for mental health help and no ECO was issued. Overall, roughly 3 out of 10 calls resulted in a child being removed from their situation at the school, whether by force or voluntarily. … The school districts of Staunton, Waynesboro, and Augusta County all use a crisis de-escalation system with goals similar to what police learn in Crisis Intervention Training. The Mandt System emphasizes establishing meaningful relationships with students which come in handy when they need to de-escalate crisis situations. The multi-day training for the Mandt System does include instruction in physical restraint — using the hands and body to hold a person in place temporarily to give a person a chance to calm down without resorting to any mechanical restraint or seclusion. …
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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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