Resources to support families during ‘the most complicated school year in American history’ As families settle into what Washington state Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal has called “perhaps the most complicated school year in American history,” the families of students with disabilities are navigating a particularly murky path. From the pandemic’s impact on student rights to coping strategies for behavioral challenges to finding time for self-care, most days offer more questions than answers — and little respite or relief. Thankfully, caregivers don’t need to have all the answers in order to support their student or to patch together a memorable and meaningful school year. More important than having an answer to every question is building resilience, or the ability to bounce back from setbacks. According to Jerri Clark, a parent resource coordinator for the PAVE (Partnerships for Action, Voices for Empowerment; wapave.org) Parent Training and Information program, working through the unique challenges of this school year can set families on a path of learning, discovery and growth that follows just what and how their student wants and needs to learn.
A bridge year
been so disrupted,” notes Clark.
The upcoming school year will be complicated for everyone involved, because the most fundamental aspects of teaching and learning — how instruction will be delivered
As a result, children with behavior challenges may have meltdowns and act out more often than normal at a time when families have fewer outlets for relief or
and measured — are very much in flux. Educators are still figuring out how to teach in this new environment, prompting the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to commit a portion of federal emergency funds available through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act to professional development and training in 2020–2021.
sources of support. As precious respite care and other forms of support become scarcer, families are stretched, stressed and simply worn out.
Which means that as of fall 2020, teachers and school staff are still figuring things out — with a long road ahead. For many, 2020–2021 will be a bridge year spanning the gap between the early crisis of spring 2020 and a new version of normalcy.
“Real-world resilience is an important and underappreciated learning goal for students with disabilities.”
All of this change is especially hard on students with special needs, including those with disabilities, learning differences or behavioral challenges, says Clark. Students who need therapies previously carried out in person, such as speech or occupational therapies, or children who relied on paraeducators, aides or special education classes were suddenly cut off from important learning supports, along with the familiarity and comfort they provided. Even children who did not access these services, including homeschoolers or those without an official diagnosis qualifying them for in-school special education support, are heavily impacted by changes to their routines. “Children with a lot of behavior challenges are impacted disproportionately, because their routines have
“Respite services that were already hard to access have gotten harder, and even things like a parents’ night out that might have provided a break have been cut off
due to COVID. Because of medical fragility, some families can’t support one another the way they normally do. And helping a child use the technology for a telehealth medical visit or therapy session requires a lot of support from parents, so these things that used to provide brief breaks for parents now take a lot of their attention,” says Clark. “All the pathways for relief are impacted.” It’s a lot. But there’s an upside to this
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