Sept 11, 2018, Education Dive: Meditation at schools can benefit both learning and behavior https://www.educationdive.com/news/meditation-at-schools-can-benefit-both-learning-and-behavior/531942/ The McKinley-Brighton Elementary School in Syracuse, New York, is experiencing positive results on student behavior and learning from a daily 30-minute opening period of meditation and mindfulness, and the establishment of a “mindful room” for students who are acting out, District Administration reports. Some schools are also replacing detention with meditation as a way to help traumatized students learn to deal with their emotions and self-regulate their response to situations so they can approach learning with a more positive attitude. … As social-emotional learning continues to take its place in many schools, some administrators are exploring the benefit of mediation in calming students before the day begins in earnest. The approach seems to be especially helpful for students facing traumatic situations outside of school because the period of meditation helps them separate the home and school environment so that stress doesn't affect classroom behavior and learning to as great a degree. Student anxiety is an increasing concern for teachers and administrators as it impacts the learning environment. Techniques such as meditation, mindfulness, and yoga can play a role in reducing anxiety for students and teachers alike. These techniques are also being used, in some cases, as part of the disciplinary process because they help to de-escalate tense situations, making resolution of the issue easier….
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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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