Oct 22, 2018, Tarentum (PA) Tribune: Adaptive classes help people with special needs get in the swim https://triblive.com/news/healthnow/14201865-74/adaptive-classes-help-people-with-special-needs-get-in-the-swim Wednesday evenings tend to be good ones in Amy Binakonsky’s home in Greensburg, and she credits the adaptive swim program at the Aerobic Center at Lynch Field for that. It’s because of the positive effects the swim time has on her son Luke, 10, who has a diagnosis of autism and sensory processing disorder. “The water automatically calms him,” Binakonsky says. … “There’s so much sensory input at school that it’s overwhelming for him,” she says. “He has a lot of meltdowns when he gets home.” … There’s a lot going on during the swim sessions for people with both physical and intellectual disabilities, too — like loud music and an instructor calling out prompts and encouragement — but something about being in the water is great therapy for Luke. … The class is open to anyone dealing with “anything that is considered a special need — Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, anything,” Musick-Breegle says. Participants range in age from preteens, like Luke, to adults. … “The class is designed to be both social and therapeutic, to get people moving and get a little bit of exercise,” she says…. Josh Fawcett, 23, of Hempfield is one of those long-timers. Josh, who is diagnosed with autism and anxiety, has been a swim class participant for about five years, says his mother, Jackie Fawcett. …
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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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