June 20, 2017, Yakima (WA) Herald: ACLU alleges special ed students in Yakima, other districts suspended more than other students http://www.yakimaherald.com/news/local/aclu-alleges-special-ed-students-in-yakima-other-districts-suspended/article_32430664-5541-11e7-910e-879453fcb6ab.html
Christina Madison said her 13-year-old son has missed 52 days of school in the past two years because he was suspended or sent home for behavior problems associated with his disabilities.
She said he was suspended for five days for refusing to change out of his gym clothes and suspended for 15 days for insubordination for being in a hallway without permission.
“I don’t have these problems with my son at home,” said Madison, adding that many of the issues begin with miscommunication resulting from his autism.
Her son is one of five plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington against the state, alleging that special-education students are being suspended or expelled at a higher rate than other students. …
Neither district is named in the suit. Instead, the ACLU argues that the state office is liable for failing to ensure that school districts are not discriminating against special-education students or disciplining them for disability-related behavior. …
ACLU attorneys using state disciplinary reports found that 7.9 percent of the state’s special-education students were either suspended or expelled from school in the 2014-15 school year. In the same time period, only 3.2 percent of non-special education students were similarly removed from school, the lawsuit stated.
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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.)
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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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