By KRISTIA POSTEMA
Capital News Service
LANSING — Special education students require more attention from educators to be able to retain information.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made learning easier for some of those students, while most have regressed, according to Derek Cooley, the president-elect of the Michigan Association of Administrators of Special Education.
Schools are now forced to make up for their lost learning while continuing new learning.
“Special education students are vulnerable learners to begin with, so virtual instruction has really exacerbated the need for extra attention,” Cooley said.
Cooley said special education students face two major barriers with virtual learning.
“What we have seen primarily is issues around technology access, but many schools have been able to address that,” Cooley said. “The second barrier is that it’s much more difficult for students to engage with teachers and with their peers in a virtual setting.”
According to Cooley, a former special education director at Godwin Heights Public Schools in Wyoming, Michigan, many students have returned to in-person instruction, but the negative effects of virtual learning linger.
“In the virtual setting many of our students with special needs have not made the same amount of progress that they would have in person,” Cooley said. “Now we’re in a position that we need to make up for that forgone learning that took place during virtual instruction, and continue to keep our kids on pace.”
Stephanie Schumacher is a mother of four. Her 8-year-old son, Dalton, has severe autism and Williams syndrome, which made it extremely difficult for him to learn during the virtual learning period.
All four of Schumacher’s children have returned to in-person learning at Caledonia Community Schools, but the lingering impacts of virtual learning still affect Dalton.
Schumacher describes virtual learning as a “disaster” for her family.
“Trying to be a teacher for a special needs student on top of all of my other kids being home was hard,” she said. “Dalton regressed — he had so many more meltdowns, he was banging his head on the walls, he started hitting his elbow on the walls.
“There were constant meltdowns, just having his routine thrown off and having no outlets of anywhere to go was bad.”
She said Dalton’s behaviors worsened.
“Because he couldn’t go anywhere, he couldn’t do anything, he was stuck in his house and out of his routine.”
According to Schumacher, the change in routine and extra chaos from his siblings also caused Dalton to regress academically.
“Counting and just basic things that a toddler should know he forgot. He lost the fine motor skills and the ability to write his name,” Schumacher said. “It was crazy because he was even forgetting what his colors were. You know kids like Dalton need constant repetition.”
Schumacher describes her son as “happier and less stressed” now that he’s resumed in-person learning.
She said his teachers have done well in keeping things as normal as possible, but there have been no individualized education program (IEP) meetings between parents and school officials
The school normally holds those meetings with parents of special needs students at least three times a year, Schumacher said. She describes them as “group discussions” that play a major role in determining Dalton’s daily program.
Cooley says many school districts have begun providing “recovery services” to help special education students, like Dalton, who have regressed due to virtual learning. Some are after-school programs and others will be summer programs.
Laura LeMore, the executive director of special education for Grand Rapids Public Schools, said the district is working to create recovery services.
“Our responsibility is to fill in the gap between the general education students and students with disabilities,” she said.
According to LeMore, the Grand Rapids district is looking to offer summer school, more individualized services, before and after school services and extra tutoring as recovery services.
Colley said, “On the flip side,” however, virtual learning has benefited some special education students, who have thrived, mostly at the secondary level.
For example, Tricia Crow’s son Jacob is a sophomore at Union High School in Grand Rapids. Jacob is high-functioning autistic and has been mainstreamed in regular classrooms.
According to Crow, virtual learning is beneficial for Jacob and he’s still learning from home.
“He’s failed almost every grade up until now,” Crow said. “With the virtual learning, he’s gone from Ds and Es to As and Bs.”
Crow said virtual learning lets her provide the one-on-one attention that Jacob doesn’t get in school.
“The virtual learning starts at 7:40. I get up with him and sit with him until I have to go to work. I only miss out on two classes,” she said. “If Jacob doesn’t understand something, I try and figure out a different way to explain it to him that he would understand.”
“It’s not like I’m standing over him as an authoritarian trying to make him pay attention. It’s more that I’m interacting too,” Crow said
Crow said that she’s struggled to get her son the academic help he needs.
“When he was younger, he used to space out so teachers would just say he wasn’t paying attention. That didn’t help our case with the IEP or getting the help he needed,” she said. “It’s taken up until just this past year to get him diagnosed as autistic because he’s high-functioning.”
According to Crow, the pandemic has allowed her to understand how Jacob learns best.
“He has less stress at home because we can control our environment more,” she said. “Without all the extra chaos going on, he’s actually been able to learn and retain more.”
If Jacob goes back to in-person learning, Crow says that she hopes the school will provide the attention he needs and he “isn’t just passing with Ds.”.
“I want him to have more help, more one on one. Even if they use the (teacher’s) aide, I want her to sit closer to him,” she said.
Crow said she’s apprehensive about sending Jacob back to in-person school since he’s been in a controlled environment for so long.
“If he has too much stimulus he shuts down,” she said. “I can see that when he goes back shutdowns are going to happen a lot more.”
Cooley predicts that virtual learning may remain an option for students, like Jacob, who have benefited from the program.
“For kids who had never accessed online, they were forced to do it during COVID, and that could be an opportunity for kids who have done well,” he said.