Jan 31, 2019, UC Riverside: Training the next generation of special education teachers https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2019/01/31/training-next-generation-special-education-teachers A new program offered through the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Riverside, seeks to boost the number of fully credentialed special education teachers in Southern California’s Inland Empire. Students accepted into the 2019 cohort of the UCR Special Education Scholars Program can earn both their master’s degrees in special education and their state-mandated education specialist instruction credentials — all without incurring debt. To qualify for one of 15 “service awards” that cover costs of the program, each applicant must commit to working for at least four years as a special education teacher in either a Riverside or San Bernardino county school district upon graduating. The goal is to address the extreme shortage of fully credentialed special education teachers in the Inland Empire by funding cohorts of students who want to serve in these positions in Riverside and San Bernardino county schools, said Thomas Smith, dean of UCR’s Graduate School of Education. “The statewide and local need for fully credentialed special education teachers is tremendous,” Smith said. … In neighboring Riverside and San Bernardino counties, more than 100,000 of the region’s 843,000-plus students [12%] are identified as special education students, with the majority coming from low-income families. Data released by the state indicates most of California’s special education students have been diagnosed with learning disabilities, speech or language impairments, or autism spectrum disorder. To keep up with the growing demand, the Riverside County Office of Education joined forces in 2018 with the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools to apply for one of 41 Local Solutions Grants offered to address the shortage of special education teachers across the state. …
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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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