Feb 7, 2020, Herts Advertiser: St Albans parents claim there is no appropriate school for their children with ASD https://www.hertsad.co.uk/news/education/hertfordshire-county-council-asd-school-places-1-6503296 New light has been shed on a number of St Albans children with special needs whose parents have taken them out of school because their parents feel nowhere meets their requirements. But in many of these cases the pupils are not being officially home-schooled, and they are effectively "off the books". The county council cannot officially give its blessing in these cases, but some families have told us after they have explained their situation to professionals, they are not fined for keeping their children off school. St Albans parents Steve and Karen Jackson felt that they were forced to home educate because there was no school that suited the needs of their daughter Niamh. Niamh was diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) two years ago. Niamh suffered a breakdown at Bernard's Heath School. For a fortnight, she could not dress or wash, she would injure herself by throwing herself against things and any reminder of school gave her a severe panic attack…. Herts County Council vehemently deny that families with special needs children are encouraged to be officially home-schooled or kept at home saying they have a "strong committment to inclusion". St Albans mum Donna Sharp has only recently found a suitable school for her son, James. James is on the autistic spectrum and Donna felt she had no choice but to keep him at home for 15 months. She said: "I was shocked that James was coming home with injuries...that a school for vulnerable children was not able to keep my child safe. There was even a suggestion that I had given him bruises. I had to put a Freedom of Information Act request in to find out the truth - that there had been lots of incidents of him coming to harm."… They said that they have recognised, as part of their SEND transformation programme that there is more to do, and "are working hard to increase special school and provision places in Hertfordshire; and also increase the capacity of mainstream schools to meet the needs of children with complex needs". … Operations director for children and young people's services Jo Fisher said: "In Herts and across the country, local authorities are spending more than on special educational needs. We welcome the continued and any further injection of funding for children with special needs." She added: "We know that we have got more we can do. We recognise that. We are developing special school provision which we are rapidly expanding over the next 12 months."
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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.
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Loss of Brain Trust features over 9,000 news stories published worldwide since January, 2017
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Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
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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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