Aug 18, 2017, UK Birmingham Mail: What are fidget spinners and are they safe? Here's what you need to know about the new craze http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/fidget-spinners-craze-banned-schools-12951161#
Retailers are quickly selling out of spinners and cubes so you'll have to be quick to get your hands on one...
So-called fidget toys were originally created to help develop fine motor skills in kids with autism and other special education needs....
But, remarkably, some schools are reportedly BANNING the toys.
One mum has bought a spinner and a cube for her 10-year-old son, who has ASD/SPD and her eight-year-old daughter, who has suspected ADHD.
And she said: "At first I thought it was brilliant that other kids had them because he wouldn't have to answer any questions or feel awkward using it, but now that they're being banned in schools it means he will have to lose an aid that is extremely beneficial to him.
"It's unfair if a child with special needs already has them and is now not allowed because others have them purely for enjoyment."
Several different companies manufacture the toy, but they all say it promotes focus and concentration, and decreases stress through a smooth, fast, satisfying silent rotation in the hand.
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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.)
CHECK OUT MY SUBSTACK:
https://annedachel.substack.com/
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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