Learning through the Lens of COVID-19: How a Global Pandemic Has Harmed Students in the Special Education System

Learning Through the Lens of COVID-19:

How a Global Pandemic has Harmed Students in the Special Education System

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a disruption in many aspects of living. From wearing masks and physical distancing to limiting social gatherings, we’ve seen a multitude of changes over the last nine months. While at times I’ve struggled with being cooped up indoors and not being able to socialize with the people I care about, one of the most challenging aspects of this pandemic has been witnessing how it affected the kids I work with. All of the children on my caseload receive special education services through their school, though the actual provision of accommodations and specialized instruction has waxed and waned as schools alternate between in-person and online instruction. Some goals can’t be worked on over Zoom, and other goals can’t be addressed in person due to the increased risk of contracting COVID-19. I’ve seen the detriment that quarantine has caused for these kids and their families: from increased aggression and anxious thoughts to falling behind on school work, and parents having to learn how to balance being Ed Techs and lunch staff and principals—all while balancing work and managing household expectations. These parents expressed frustration and hopelessness in finding a way to do it all. As I thought about the topic of my policy project, I knew I wanted to find a way to help these parents advocate for their child’s needs. That’s why I chose to research Individualized Education Programs.

What are IEPs?

It has taken over a century of parents fighting for their children to receive necessary special education accommodations in school for actual change to be made. The Education for All Handicapped Children Act—now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)—was passed in 1975. With the passage of this law came the creation of Individual Education Programs (IEP). These are legal documents that provide schools with guidance on what accommodations and specialized services a student needs to succeed. They are created for each student individually with input from parents, teachers, school administrators, and service providers, and are reviewed a minimum of once a year (U.S. Department of Education, 2000). In order to receive an IEP, a child must be diagnosed with one of 13 disabilities. In the United States, more than seven million children ages three to 21 are diagnosed with a disability, and in Maine, this number totals roughly 171,000 (National Center for Education Statistics, 2020; U.S. Department of Education, 2012).

Special Education and COVID-19 

Individualized Education Programs were created to provide children with disabilities a fair and equal education. However, COVID-19 has interfered with the ability for thousands of kids to receive the services they need. Since March 2020 schools have implemented a variety of ever-changing policies including reducing the number of days kids go to school, post-exposure quarantines, and moving classwork to online. This has negatively impacted kids in the special education system because many of them thrive on structure and consistency—something that isn’t possible during a pandemic. They are not receiving needed supports, like one-on-one staffing, because teachers cannot come to their homes. Some IEP goals—like occupational therapy—can not be addressed over Zoom because of safety concerns or insufficient resources. Other IEP goals—like community outings and personal hygiene—are not possible due to the risk of contracting COVID-19. This presents challenges in meeting kids’ needs. A special education teacher I spoke with shared, “IEP goals surrounding socializing are extremely difficult to modify right now. How are students supposed to work on communicating with each other if they can’t even sit at the same table to each lunch? How does taking turns work when you can’t play any games that require turn-taking? That’s been one of the hardest things to get used to—there’s some things that you just can’t modify for this new environment.” And even though IEPs legally require children to have evaluations every one to three years, there are thousands of students who have not had these completed since the pandemic began (Nelson, 2020).

Community Partners 

I worked with two sets of community partners for my policy project: the parents of my clients and special educators. I began by telling the parents of five children I work with about my policy project. Then, during my parent meetings, I asked the interested parents to share their experiences with special education services since the COVID-19 pandemic began. They offered their struggles and provided me with feedback about how I could be helpful. Some of the needs they shared included determining what service provision was available during the pandemic, learning what their rights were, and understanding how to advocate for their child. In order to address these needs, I compiled a list of resources including links to materials by the federal and state Departments of Education about what services were available, articles by lawyers about the legal rights of children with IEPs, and the phone numbers of both my clients’ superintendents and disability lawyers in Maine that parents could contact if the school districts were not responsive to the parents’ needs. All of the parents I shared these materials with expressed gratitude, especially considering all of the time it took to complete the research—with everything else going on in their lives, this was something they did not have time to do.

My other community “partners” were special education teachers at two different schools in southern Maine: Margaret Murphy Centers for Children and C.K. Burns School. I interviewed an Ed Tech III, occupational therapist, speech-language pathologist, and special education teacher. These teachers shared their experiences helping kids meet their IEP goals and the challenges that came along with it. I found these interviews to be beneficial because they clarified some misconceptions I had about how children and parents were adapting to all of the school's changes. When asked how I could help them, the teachers shared their needs and that they wanted their voices to be heard. One way that I addressed this need was by publishing an op-ed in the Portland Press Herald. I wanted this article to raise awareness of the ways kids and teachers have been struggling this year and hoped someone in a position of power would read my recommendations and find a way to address them.

Policy Analysis

In analyzing the effectiveness of IEPs, I found that in many ways these plans have been helpful. Students with IEPs have an increased chance of success in school. There are many more interventions being offered in schools including occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, counseling services, individual instruction, movement breaks and calm down rooms, and alternative education programs. Along with an increase in understanding of students with disabilities’ actual abilities, schools have demonstrated increased expectations for these children. This is evidenced by more inclusivity in mainstream classrooms, early intervention for infants and toddlers, and increased special education eligibility (U.S. Department of Education, n.d.).

Unfortunately, there are also ways that IEPs inadequately meet the needs of students. For example, some schools are not able to meet the needs of their students due to understaffing, underfunding, and environmental barriers. There are also disparities among non-White children and children who live in impoverished areas. White children tend to enter and exit the special education system sooner than children of color. It is well-known that Black children receive education intervention later than their White peers and often never leave the system. For example, White children with Medicaid are more likely to be diagnosed with Autism over a year earlier than Black children with Medicaid (Gordon, 2017). Additionally, assumptions made by school personnel about disability and race have interfered with their approach to serve students. This can look like Black students being classified as having a disability based on their behavior when in reality they are struggling with poor nutrition, stress, and exposure to environmental toxins (Gordon, 2017). Additionally, some schools provide students with a ‘certificate of completion’ instead of a diploma that may not be recognized by colleges or employers. Black and Latinx students across the country are more likely to be placed on this track for alternate diplomas, limiting their chance for success after graduation (Felton, 2017). If parents complain about schools not meeting their child’s needs, schools are also more likely to listen to arguments made by White and upper-class parents. Parents of color are more likely to be seen as aggressive or uneducated (Felton, 2017).

Recommendations

After researching special education services, talking with parents, and working with my community partner, I developed a list of recommendations that could improve the provision of special education services. This includes:

• Provision of “make-up” services for all students who did not receive IEP accommodations during school shutdowns this spring.
• Creation of a support group for parents to voice concerns, receive feedback about parenting/teaching strategies, learn about their child’s rights and find community among others in similar situations.
•  Increased funding for special education programs to go towards purchasing sensory tools, education and training for staff, and access to appropriate education materials.
• Increased wages, hazard pay, and a sick time bank for teachers, Educational Technicians, and Behavioral Health Professionals.
• Increased funding for (or provision of) Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like disposable masks, gowns, and gloves, and cleaning supplies.
• Providing all students with an electronic device—or homework materials—for children to utilize at home. This may include paper worksheets, art supplies, inexpensive occupational therapy tools and fidgets, or iPad apps that may be accessed without Wi-Fi.
• School staff training on racial sensitivity, classism, and disability.
• Evaluation of student disability testing measures for reliability and validity among all racial groups.
• Children who exhibit learning challenges as a result of external factors should be directed to services that meet their needs (e.g. case management).
• Equal access to early intervention programs for non-White children.

Moving Forward

When I set out to complete this project, I felt nervous about connecting with a community partner. I wasn’t sure of the ways I could be helpful and the thought of trying to decipher disability laws seemed overwhelming. As I met with parents during work, interviewed teachers, and Zoomed with my professor to receive feedback, I realized that mezzo- and macro-level social work isn’t as scary as I made it out to be. I learned the importance of hearing the stories of the people affected by policies, as some of the assumptions I had about their experiences turned out to be incorrect. I appreciated that the parents and teachers felt comfortable sharing their needs with me so that I was able to produce meaningful work that addressed these needs. And I also wish that I had more time to dedicate to this project over the course of the semester. It may have been more helpful to provide the teachers with information about how to access grants for more materials, or how to get more funding for the supplies they need. It could have been helpful, too, to find school models in other countries that see less burnout and staff turnover in the special education field. This research could have been provided to school districts as a blueprint for needed change. Overall, I am happy with the actions I took while learning about social welfare policy. I am ending the semester feeling more connected to the communities I work in, and I feel more prepared to address social change from a mezzo- and macro-level following my graduation this spring. 

References

• Felton, E. (2017). Special education’s hidden racial gap. Retrieved November 11, 2020 from https://hechingerreport.org/special-educations-hidden-racial-gap/ 
• Gordon, N. (2017). Race, poverty, and interpreting overrepresentation in special education. Retrieved December 6, 2020 from https://www.brookings.edu/research/race-poverty-and-interpreting-overrepresentation-in-special-education/ 
• National Center for Education Statistics. (2020). Students with disabilities. Retrieved October 31, 2020 from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cgg.asp
• Nelson, A. (2020). How COVID-19 has affected special education students. Retrieved October 31, 2020 from https://now.tufts.edu/articles/how-covid-19-has-affected-special-education-students
• U.S. Department of Education. (2012). Data display: Maine. Retrieved October 31, 2020 from https://www2.ed.gov/fund/data/report/idea/partbspap/2013/me-acc-stateprofile-11-12.pdf 
• U.S. Department of Education. (2000). A guide to the individualized education program. Retrieved November 15, 2020 from https://www2.ed.gov/parents/needs/speced/iepguide/iepguide.pdf 
• U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.) About IDEA. Retrieved November 15, 2020 from https://sites.ed.gov/idea/about-idea/#IDEA-Purpose