More than a year ago, ASBJ began work on a series of stories we called "Children at Risk," spotlighting programs and problems that put students at risk of failure in academics and in life.

This month, "Children at Risk" returns with a story focusing on students' mental health and how schools can provide the care they need. If you don't think this is something that affects your district, consider this: Three-quarters of the children and youth who need mental health services in the United States do not receive them or get inadequate treatment.

As Mark Weist of the University of Maryland's Center for School Mental Health says, mental health problems are among "the most neglected needs in the nation. It's a very troubling scenario that a majority of youth with mental health needs do not receive services."

Troubling, indeed.

Also troubling is the tremendous rise in the number of autism diagnoses among children. The number has soared 900 percent over the past decade, as Associate Editor Joetta Sack-Min notes in "The Cost of Autism," and shows no signs of slowing.

Sack-Min visited two districts in New Jersey, the state with the highest percentage of school-age children with autism, to see how they are meeting the challenges. She also wrote sidebars that look at the disorder and Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID), a neurological condition that causes problems processing senses, including touch, vision, hearing, taste, and smell.