![]() ![]() and, in fact, had regressed on several things," Shofner remembers, including basic skills like counting money and expressing emotion.Įrica Brechtelsbauer for NPR Shofner helps Rachel navigate lessons on her iPad. Her high-school-age daughter, Rachel, has severe autism and struggled to learn remotely without the paraprofessional who sits by her side in school.įor Shofner and some families, those early failures of spring 2020 continued into the fall and winter. You try to have grace about all that," says Carolyn Shofner, of Nashville, Tenn. You know, none of that is anybody's fault. Everybody else is having technical issues. "The teachers don't know how to use the computers. A little more than two-thirds of those principals said their students with disabilities would perform somewhat or much lower than they had before the pandemic.įamilies told NPR that, initially, they approached these failures with patience and understanding. In October 2020, RAND researchers asked a sample of K-12 principals to estimate how their students with disabilities would perform in fall 2020 compared with in fall 2019. Special educators and therapists weren't allowed to work in person, and many services couldn't be done well, if at all, remotely. Each IEP is a legal document, a kind of road map of required services and goals for every child.īut schools' shift to remote learning made it difficult for many districts to follow students' IEPs. ![]() Rachel has severe autism and struggled to learn remotely without the paraprofessional who sits by her side in school.Īccording to IDEA, children with unique needs are to be assessed by school staff, in collaboration with the child's family, and given an individualized education program. The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act entitles children with disabilities to a public education that is two things: free and "appropriate." That means, if a child needs a speech therapist or special curriculum modifications to learn, schools must provide it.Įrica Brechtelsbauer for NPR Carolyn Shofner brushes her daughter's hair at their home in Nashville, Tenn. In complaints filed across the country, families say schools need to act now to make up for the vital services kids missed. Department of Education that schools are legally required to do better by their students with disabilities. And now they're demanding help, arguing to judges, state departments of education and even to the U.S. Without the usual access to educators, therapists and in-person aides, these families, and many like them, say they watched their children slide backward, losing academic, social and physical skills. "It's not fair to him that he requires a lot extra just to achieve a little bit of the same," Bell says of her son. Cassandra Giraldo for NPR Bell is part of a class action complaint filed in late 2020 against the New York City and State Departments of Education. ![]()
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