By Anne Dachel
Stress, mental illness, childhood trauma, anxiety, depression-they're plaguing our children at ever-increasing levels. Schools are making a major effort to address the situation. I have seen literally HUNDREDS of stories from everywhere in the English speaking world in the last couple of months. Educators from pre-school to universities are talking about the emotional difficulties our children have to deal with. Schools are partnering with mental health clinics and hiring additional counselors, adding "calming rooms," and holding workshops so teachers can understand that the student of the 21st century is a very vulnerable individual.
Teachers are struggling to deal with many students with serious behavior problems. There is strong criticism over the actions of schools where they physically restrain out-of-control students or lock them in seclusion rooms. In Britain, there have been huge increases in the number of students being permanently excluded because of assaults on other children and on teachers, even among preschool students.
Take a look at recent headlines and it's clear we have resigned ourselves to accept that our children are in need of help. The Scandinavian publication Science Nordic flat-out said so in September in the story, Teachers can help nip mental illness in the bud.
Many young people have mental issues.
The researchers found that having various anxiety problems were linked to a reduced health-related quality of life.
It's important to redouble efforts to improve mental health and prevent mental illness by detecting adolescents with anxiety problems, conclude the researchers.
Up to 15-20 percent of children and adolescents aged three to 18 are inhibited by mental problems such as anxiety, depression and behavioural disorders, according to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
The use of antidepressants by young people aged 15 to 19 rose 44 percent among boys between the years 2004 to 2013 and by 48 percent among girls in the same period.
Researchers also found that "anxiety symptoms among adolescents often materialize at school," and these symptoms include "obsessions/compulsions, social anxiety, panic disorder, agoraphobia, separation anxiety, physical injury fears, generalised anxiety, and posttraumatic stress."
All these can also be "the start of mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety disorders, according to the researchers."
The article advised teachers to be on the lookout for signs of anxiety disorders and to take steps to help kids deal with them.
Clearly schools are taking a decisive role in mental health areas today like never before.
Several news sites have openly claimed that the emotional, behavioral, and learning problems affecting so many children and causing such difficulties at school are the result of bad parenting, also known as childhood trauma.
Oct 16, 2017, Business Insider: Parents of unsuccessful kids could have these 6 things in common
Raising children requires good parenting techniques as well as avoiding bad habits. A positive body image help children develop socially. Quality time with kids also helps them in school. But just as important are avoiding mistakes that can curtail a child's social, physical, emotional and intellectual development. The following is a transcript of this video.
Parents of unsuccessful kids could have these 6 things in common.
They're authoritarian. Authoritarian parents discourage open communication. They make demands without explaining why. One study showed, when these parents checked children's homework it inhibited the child's overall school performance.
Parents who let kids watch TV when they're really young. Researchers said children who watched more TV were less likely to participate in class and had lower math scores.
Parents who yell at their kids a lot. Shouting, cursing and insults can have the same negative effects as physical discipline.
They're helicopter parents. Over-controlling parents have been linked to higher levels of anxiety and depression in children. Researchers found these children were less open to new ideas and more self-conscious.
Parents who are emotionally distant. This can contribute to: behavioral problems, insecurity, and emotional difficulties.
Parents who spank their kids. First graders who already had behavioral problems were even more disruptive if their parents spanked them. Spanking has also been linked to mental health problems and cognitive difficulties.
And on Oct 4, 2017, in Little kids and 'toxic stress': we can solve this
CNN called out parents for the 'toxic stress' they're causing in children.
We now know that there is another significant consideration: Prolonged stress at home can disrupt development and set children back before school even begins....
A growing body of research shows that trauma at home can seriously affect a child's health and education. Physical or emotional abuse, neglect, parental mental illness, exposure to violence or the accumulated burdens of poverty can trigger what is known as a "toxic stress" response.
In the short term, this can inhibit children's ability to learn, to manage emotions and build relationships with peers, putting them at a disadvantage before they ever even set foot in a classroom. Children who have experienced four or more traumatic experiences are more than 30 times more likely to have a learning or behavior problem than their more fortunate peers.
In the long run, toxic stress can actually disrupt the development of the brain and other organs and body systems and increase the risk for chronic disease, heart attack, stroke, mental illness and cognitive impairment well into adulthood....
Despite the prevalence of toxic stress and the severity of its impact on children's lives, existing education, health, and social support systems are not set up to help the children most likely to experience trauma, which often goes untreated.
As a member of the autism community and as someone in touch with a lot of other parents, all this talk about anxiety is nothing new. Anxiety is so often a part of the disorder-and in many cases, it's severe. We mean extreme fear over new situations, sudden changes in routine and constant preoccupation with things being a certain way.
Experts have been studying anxiety as a factor in autism for a long time, as this report from the University of Indiana shows.
Many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) will receive another diagnosis at some point in their development. In a 2008 study, seventy percent of a sample of children with ASD ages 10 to 14, had also been diagnosed with another disorder. Forty-one percent had been diagnosed with two or more additional disorders (Simonoff, et al). These additional disorders, or comorbid diagnoses, can at times be extremely debilitating for individuals with autism spectrum disorders. The most common types of diagnoses are those related to anxiety.
Recently researchers at The University of Amsterdam reviewed 31 studies that focused on the presence of anxiety disorders in children under 18 years old with ASD. Upon review of these studies, researchers concluded that about 40% of children with ASD had at least one comorbid diagnosed anxiety disorder (van Steensel et al., 2011).
So is the common presence of anxiety disorders in children with ASD just an unfortunate coincidence?
Does one thing have anything to do with the other?
Could the behavioral/mental conditions rampant among our children be subtler forms of the damage we call autism? I have to ask because I remember a similar conversation I had with Dr. Andrew Wakefield back in July.
In part of that Skype interview entitled, What Happens To A Nation if You Shave a Few IQ Points off Its Children?
Dr. Wakefield addressed the explosion in special education in this country, in some places totaling one in five students, even one in four, like in Woodland Hill, PA.
Here was my question: Do you feel that we've focused too narrowly on a link between vaccines and autism while ignoring other damaging effects of vaccination?
Andy:
"...The answer lies in the way in which medicine naturally takes place, the way in which diseases present to doctors. Medicine gives you the sharp end first."
Andy went on to describe regressive autism with a dramatic change in the health of a child.
"The parents are clearly aware that there is something wrong with this child. So the way in which we at the Royal Free saw this and many doctors around the world have seen this, is to see these severe acute cases first. Those are the original ones described, and then as you go on and understand it, the spectrum necessarily and inevitably broadens as you realize that this is affecting many children, but perhaps to a lesser degree or to subtly different degrees.
"So medicine gives you the sharp end first. That is just the natural way it happens.
"At the other end of the spectrum, what would happen if you simply shaved nine points off the IQ of every child in the country? How long would it take to be picked up?
"Let's say vaccines do pervasive damage to the brain, and it varies from child to child. At one end of the spectrum, it is a severe disintegrative disorder, and at the other end of the spectrum, it's just taking nine points off a child's IQ. How long would it take the system to pick that up, and who would pick it up?
"Well, it wouldn't necessarily be picked up by doctors, because you don't go and say, well my child is less intelligent than his other siblings or his cousins, and I want him investigated. That doesn't happen.
"What happens is it's reflected at a population level in schools exactly as we're seeing now. So if you dumb down a nation, if you dumb down the children of a country, that will be reflected in failing grades, fewer people being smart enough to go to college, more failure, more expulsion from school-all of these kinds of things that then take a long time to recognize and are picked up in a different system, the educational system. And indeed in the prison system, so a lot of these children who have behavioral disturbances are being expelled from school, and they will and they are ending up in the prison system. The prisons are full of people with the kind of disorders we're concerned with.
"Have we over-focused? By necessity, no, because that's where we were led by the patients, and that it absolutely crucial, but it is quite obvious, and people have been saying this for a long time, that vaccines are associated with a range of neurological and immunological disorders which affect children now in academic fashion. This is not something new."
So what happens if you inject multiple neurotoxins into vulnerable babies and small children? Will there be it just different degrees of toxic impact?
Will some, like Hannah Poling, develop autism? (Yes, medical experts at HHS conceded her vaccine injury case that resulted in autism. And yes, she did have a pre-existing condition that made her susceptible to a vaccine reaction, but no one makes any effort to determine which children carry the same risk.)
Will other children just lose a few IQ points, and will still others develop one of the behavioral conditions routinely diagnosed in our children, like the all-too-common anxiety disorders?
Maybe it's time we stepped away from the solitary claim that "vaccines cause autism." The vaccine promoters have successfully changed autism into an acceptable condition that only requires awareness and services, Andrew Wakefield has been made into the all-time fall guy for falsely linking vaccines to autism, and health officials will never admit that any increase in autism ever means more children actually have autism.
AUTISM is a NORMAL and ACCEPTABLE part of childhood. Period.
But what about what's happening in our schools? Why are so many children in special education? Why do 20 percent of students today suffer from anxiety? Why are schools spending big amounts to address behavioral issues? How long can we sustain this change in children? Will every child in the future have some kind of diagnosis?
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Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism.
Oct 16, 2017, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin: Walla Walla school staffers to get child trauma training
Oct 16, 2017, Nova Scotia Chronicle: Early start times put students at risk of developing anxiety, depression: study
Oct 16, 2017, (Troy, MO) Lincoln County Resource Board to fund $1.2 million in 2015 for children's [mental health] services
Oct 15, 2017, UCLA Daily Bruin: Mental health screenings, treatment services now free for all students
Oct 12, 2017, (Ann Arbor) Michigan Daily: Students, faculty talk mental health resources on campus at panel talk
Oct 12, 2017, Lexington (MA) Wicked: Experts say many causes for Lexington's youth mental health crisis
Oct 12, 2017, Hutchinson (WA) News: Childhood trauma and the effects on student performance
Oct 12, 2017, Pell City, AL, St. Clair News: Sensory room gets funding
Oct 11, 2017, Good Housekeeping: "Sesame Street" Just Launched a Series of Videos to Help Kids Cope With Trauma
Oct 11, 2017, New York Times: Why Are More American Teenagers Than Ever Suffering From Severe Anxiety?
Oct 11, 2017, Our Windsor (Ontario, Canada): Student mental health needs growing, Ontario colleges say
Oct 10, 2017, (Provo UT) Daily Universe: Anxiety rises among college students
Oct 8, 2017, Irish Times: Teachers to be trained to help reduce pupils' anxiety
Oct 8, 2017, Cape Cod (MA) Times: Falmouth partnership aims to manage students' mental health struggles
Oct 7, 2017, BBC: Special needs pupils' exclusion rate 10 times higher
Oct 7, 2017, NY Newsday: Complex trauma disorder among youth needs recognition, experts say
Oct 6, 2017, UK TES: Pupils 'failed' by lack of mental health training for teachers
Oct 6, 2017, UK Oxford Mail: Violence rocks our schools: primary school expulsions soar by 57 per cent in Oxfordshire
Oct 5, 2017, (UK) York Region: Violent special needs classroom incident still haunts York Region teacher 2 years later-School board weighs best course of action for teachers, students
Oct 4, 2017, Fayetteville AR News: Ozark Guidance Teaches About Classroom Trauma
Oct 4, 2017, UK Yorkshire Post: 'Schools need greater focus on mental health'
Oct 4, 2017, CNN: Little kids and 'toxic stress': we can solve this
Oct 4, 2017, Santa Fe (NM) Reporter: Restraining Order Santa Fe Public Schools moves toward compliance with a new law on student restraint and seclusion
Oct 4, 2017, Sault Ste. Marie Star (Ontario): OP-ED: The sad ABCs of classroom violence
Oct 4, 2017: Alliston, ON, Simco.com: Student attacks against teachers a concern in Simcoe County
Oct 3, 2017, New Zealand Herald: Teachers kicked and bitten by students
Oct 2, 2017, (UK) Hertfordshire Mercury: Surge in Hertfordshire school expulsions following rise in pupil attacks on adults
Oct 2, 2017, Herald Scotland: GROWING numbers of young children face being "parked" on readily available drugs
Sept 29, 2017, (Cheshire, UK) Warrington Guardian: Rise in pupils excluded for abusive behavior
Sept 29, 2017, The News, New Glasgow, Nova Scotia: Teachers learn skills to help students suffering with mental health issues
Sept 29, 2017, WTOK-TV, Meridian, Ms: Self-harming students receive help from school
Sept 29, 2017, (UK) Northwich Guardian: West Cheshire state schools hand out 1,783 exclusions in just one year
Sept 28, 2017, Red Deer News Now (Alberta, Canada): Wolf Creek Public Schools hires additional staff to work with severely disabled students
Sept 28, 2017, CBC News (Nova Scotia): Worker hit with chair raises alarm about violence at Sydney youth centre
Sept 28, 2017, Toronto (Canada) Globe and Mail: How schools aim to head off mental-health woes
Sept 27, 2017, The Mint Hill (NC) Times: It's not fussiness Sensory processing disorder is a real problem
Sept 27, 2017, Bangor Daily News: York school system nearly $1M over budget in special education spending
Sept 27, 2017, The Vermont Commons: Breaking the vicious cycle of childhood trauma
Sept 27, 2017, UK, East Anglian Daily Times: Physical assaults against teachers on the rise in Suffolk and Essex
Sept 27, 2017, Midland (MI) Daily News: Grant will boost mental health services for students
Sept 27, 2017, UK Tes: Teachers must learn to tackle pupil distress, psychologists say
Sept 26, 2017, EdSource: Addressing early childhood trauma requires shift in policy, more training for teachers
Sept 26, 2017, Duluth News Tribune: Duluth adds social-emotional learning specialists to two schools
Sept 26, 2017, The Irish News: First of its kind nursery provides specialist day care for kids with complex needs
Sept 26, 2017, Patch Lexington, MA: Meeting Will Address High Stress Among Lexington High School Students
Sept 26, 2017, Petoskey (MI) News: Schools put state's seclusion/restraint policy into effect
Sept 25, 2017, Insauga.com: Ontario Teachers Calling for Action on Student Violence
Sept 25, 2017, BBC: NHS staff to help anxious school pupils
Sept 25, 2017, ITV (UK): Pilot scheme to launch specialist mental health services in Wales' schools
Sept 25, 2017, Oswego County (NY) Today: Sensory Rooms Provide Calming Environment For Local Students
Sept 23, 2017, Oneida (NY) Daily Dispatch: Mental health program aims to help youths
Sept 23, 2017, UK Mirror: Mental health crisis in universities amid record number of student suicides
Sept 23, 2017, The UK Guardian: Schools fear impact of budget cuts amid girls' mental health crisis
Sept 22, 2017, Wicked Local, Hudson: Schools bring new focus to social-emotional learning
Sept 21, 2017, Orange (TX) Leader: LU awarded $1.8 million to enhance school counselor mental health training program
Sept 21, 2017, The Tennessean: Nashville teacher restrained 4-year-old boy in locker multiple times, new lawsuit states
Sept 21, 2017, Australia, Daily Telegraph: Disabled Kids Neglected Despite Record Funding
Sept 21, 2017 Danvers (MA) Wicked: Training Danvers teachers to work with students with anxiety
Sept 21, 2017, Petosky (MI) News: New strategies offer help for area students with mental health issues
Sept 21, 2017, London TES: Primary teachers 'ill-equipped' to spot pupils' mental health problems
Sept 20, 2017, The UK Guardian: Primary school teachers 'not trained to deal with mental health issues'
Sept 20, 2017, WKBT TV, LaCrosse, WI: Northside Elementary aims to become a 'trauma-informed' school
Sept 20, 2017, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Dal News: Helping Teachers Address Mental Health in Their Classrooms
Sept 20, 2017, The Hutchinson (KS) News: Speaker to focus on effects of childhood trauma
Sept 20, 2017, Dundee, Scotland, Sunday Post: Study finds one in four girls aged 14 has depression
Sept 19, 2017, Logan, UT, Cache Valley Daily: Local group studying childhood trauma
Sept 19, 2017, Lima, OH online: Ada schools trains in mental health first aid
Sept 19, 2017, Worcester (MA) Telegram: Expert's presentation in Worcester explores effects of childhood trauma
Sept 19, 2017, Eden Prairie (MN) Current: Back to school: Practical tips for kids with mental health disabilities
Sept 18, 2017, KVOA-TV, Tucson: 4 Your Health: Schools not equipped for serious health issues
Sept 18, 2017, Battle Creek Enquirer: Harper Creek schools seek to help traumatized students
Sept 18, 2017, Edwardsville (IL) Intelligencer: Mental health on campuses requires more attention
Sept 17, 2017, Worcester (MA) Telegraph: As I See It: Addressing childhood traumas and their lifelong implications
Sept 17, 2017, New Zealand Stuff: Mental health intervention for preschoolers could be the answer to our high suicide rates
Sept 16, 2017, Khaleej Times UAE: Kids as young as three at risk of depression
Sept 15, 2017, Phoenix Daily Tribune Phoenix Center, Marble Falls ISD expand partnership through mental health care services
Sept 15, 2017, Huff Post (UK): Number Of Children With Autism Being Excluded Has Risen And Its 'Incredibly Troubling'
Sept 14, 2017, Newsweek: WHY ARE SCHOOLS LOCKING UP SO MANY OF OUR KIDS?
Sept 13, 2017, CBC News (Canada): Durham teachers want more special needs support, say violence rising in elementary schools
Sept 13, 2017, CaféMom.com: IOWA SCHOOLS ARE PUTTING KIDS IN LOCKED BOXES FOR TIME-OUT
Sept 13, 2017, Beloit (WI) Daily News: Board Updated on Use of Physical Restraint and Seclusion in Schools
Sept 12, 2017, Wannaroo Community News, Australia: Koondoola: Burbridge School's new multi-sensory room awakening students' senses
Sept 12, 2017, Wichita Falls, TX, NBC 3: Documentary highlights childhood trauma
Sept 10, 2017, Maui News: 'You are not alone'-Dealing with 'challenging behavior' was topic for 52 early childhood professionals
Sept 9, 2017, NJ.com: Hunterdon County Partnership for Health and school districts work to reduce stress in students
Sept 9, 2017, (UK) The Sheffield Star, Yorkshire: Hundreds march to protest Sheffield Council's 'failings' towards children with special needs
Sept 9, 2017, Auckland (New Zealand) Newshub: Call for doubling of counsellor numbers in schools S
Sept 9, 2017, Radio Prague (Czech Republic): RISE IN LEARNING DISABILITIES AMONG STUDENTS
Sept 8, 2017, Fort Atkinson (WI) Daily Union: District starts 'Trauma Informed Schools' initiative
Sept 8, 2017, Vermont Lawmakers Examining How The State Addresses Childhood Trauma
Sept 8, 2017, ClickonDetroit: High school-based clinic improves students' health Staff offers variety of physical, mental health services
Sept 8, 2017, Fox News Seattle: Anxiety rates among students rise as school year starts
Sept 8, 2017, Education Drive, Washington DC: Sensory rooms can improve special education comfort, engagement
Sept 5, 2017, Huff Post: Schools, Please Stop Locking Kids in Closets
Sept 5, 2017, (UK) The Guardian: 'People give up': the crisis in school support for children with special needs
Sept 5, 2017, Radio New Zealand: Special education wait times 'appalling'
Sept 4, 2017, Southern MN (Owatonna, MN): CDC finds distressing jump in suicide rate for middle school students
Sept 4, 2017, Jerusalem Post: One to Three Students in Every Classroom Suffer from Depression
Sept 3, 2017, New Zealand, Stuff.co.nz: Police handcuff children as number of 111 calls from schools rise
Sept 3, 2017, Reading (PA) Eagle: Reading School District addresses violence at Reading Intermediate High School
Sept 3, 2017, Corry, PA, GoErie.com: New mental health services available for Corry students
Sept 2, 2017, Sudbury (Ontario) Star: Sudbury Accent: Back-to-school anxiety
Sept 1, 2017, Portsmouth, NH, Seacoast Online: Rochester Rep wants to reform school restraint policies
Aug 31, 2017, Camden (NY) Courier Post: Calming classroom shows kids empathy, coping skills
Aug 30, 2017, St. Joseph (MI) Herald Palladium: BH schools takes on mental health crisis
Aug 29, 2017, UK Guardian: The rise in student mental health problems - 'I thought my tutor would say: deal with it'
Aug 28, 2017, The Scotsman: 250,000 children in Scotland lack mental health support
Aug 28, 2017, Education Dive, Washington, DC: As states seek to reduce suspensions, schools look for ways to handle discipline
Aug 27, 2017, London Daily Star: School pupils as young as FOUR face suspension at school
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