May 25, 2019, Worcester News: Average wait of more than a year for children in Worcestershire to get autism diagnosis "not good enough" https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/17664374.average-wait-of-more-than-a-year-for-children-in-worcestershire-to-get-autism-diagnosis-not-good-enough/ FAMILIES in the county are waiting more than a year on average for children to be diagnosed with autism. The average wait for children to be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Worcestershire last year was 372 days – up from 327 days in 2017. The length of the wait in Worcestershire ranged from eight days to 673 days. Philippa Coleman, the county council’s lead commissioner for early health, said one of the main reasons for the longer wait was staff having to work through a backlog which meant it was “always going to get worse before it got better.”… Councillor Chris Bloore, chairman of the council’s overview and scrutiny board, said the system was failing children and the length of wait was not acceptable. He said: “I have sat in the front rooms of families who cannot get on with their day-to-day lives because they are worried and concerned about their children…. Cllr Fran Oborski, chairman of the children and families scrutiny panel, said she spoken to many “incredibly frustrated” families who felt nobody was taking their case seriously. She said the results of the joint Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection – which heavily criticised the council and the county’s clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) approach to children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) – found the county was failing its most vulnerable children. She said: “That wasn’t just children on the autistic spectrum. That was overall. These [children] are some of the most vulnerable of the most vulnerable.”…
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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.
Loss of Brain Trust features over 9,000 news stories published worldwide since January, 2017
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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