How Are Your Students Doing In This Virtual World? IDEA
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: Requirements and the Pandemic
Under IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), which was passed in 1975, school districts are required to provide a FAPE (Fair Appropriate Public Education) to children with disabilities in the least restrictive environment.[1] Disabled children are legally entitled to free educational services that are tailored to their individual needs, from physical therapy to speech therapy to an in-class aide or assistant. Services are provided to those students with physical or health impairments, intellectual or learning disabilities, speech impediments, and/or autism.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, seven million children ages 3 to 21, or 14 percent of all public-school students, receive special education services. Low-income families are particularly dependent upon these services. Low-income students and students of color are disproportionately represented in the special education community.
SPED (special education) students need reasonable accommodations; they need support from school professionals, such as specialized teachers, educators, and psychologists. Children with special educational needs may require extra help during all phases of learning, including accommodations during academic assessments and other kinds of learning tasks.
When the coronavirus pandemic first hit, the U.S. Department of Education stressed that all public schools that would be providing virtual or online education during the pandemic must also continue to serve their students with disabilities. The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services issued a supplemental fact sheet in March stressing the special education services outlined in each student's IEP (Individual Educational Plan) must continue either in-person or remotely.
Special education services are not necessarily transferable to distance learning; nor is in-person learning easily delivered due to social distancing. Some things, such as one-to-one support, simply cannot be provided at a distance. Home confinement, for example, limits certain kinds of professional contacts such as physical or occupational therapists. Families were stunned to find that their children’s services were entirely remote or—in many cases—suspended altogether.
Some online learning practices inherently present barriers to persons with disabilities:
o Uncaptioned videos are not accessible to students who are deaf.
o Content presented with graphic images only is not accessible to individuals who are blind.
o Unorganized content cluttered on a page creates barriers to some students with learning disabilities and attention deficits.
o Web pages that require using a mouse are inaccessible to those who cannot operate one.
A survey released at the end of May by the advocacy group ParentsTogether found that 40 percent of children in special education hadn’t received any support at all; only 20 percent received all the services they were entitled to receive. And over a third were doing little to no remote learning, compared with 17 percent of their general education peers. As a result of the disruption in services, many parents have reported their children had regressed significantly, losing milestones and abilities they had worked for months or years to achieve.
Teachers and administrators worry both about helping their students learn under exceptional circumstances and meeting legal mandates. Under IDEA, students with disabilities are entitled to compensatory services once the school year begins, even if in-person schooling hasn’t officially resumed. Consequently, there is the ever-present fear of lawsuits. School districts are required to provide specific services and meet particular goals within a certain period to any child deemed eligible for special education services; districts are concerned about meeting timelines.[1] Parents of SPED students have a right to sue their school districts if their children fail to make progress.
The pandemic upended almost every facet of traditional schooling, including the additional and intensive in-person supports that many children with disabilities need on a daily basis. During spring 2020, schools did little or no evaluation to determine whether students required special services. And parents in a number of states have pursued legal action against school districts.
In July 2020, groups representing school administrators, such as the School Superintendents Association, called upon Congress to grant them liability protections related to their obligations under IDEA. The American Association of School Administrators collected examples of concerns its members are facing as they navigate approaches to special education. Among them:
o Some special education students don't have access to home Internet and even mobile hotspots aren't effective because some students live in dead zones where there is limited cell phone reception.
o There are students with behavioral, developmental, and physical needs that require one-on-one support that schools say they can't deliver remotely. These include behavioral interventions and specialized instruction for deaf and/or blind students.
o There are students with disabilities whose parents don't speak English and therefore cannot assist educators with home instruction and support.
o Some schools lack capacity because educators and staff members must step away from their duties to care for their own family members.
Further complicating matters is many school districts want to do the right thing for students with disabilities, but don’t have the necessary funds to do so. In some cases where districts do have the funds, they have gone in the opposite direction: allowing children with disabilities back to school five days a week while their peers do hybrid or remote learning.
Special needs children may be at heightened risks for complications from COVID-19, thus the decision of whether to send their children back to school is complicated for parents of medically fragile children. Parents and educators would be concerned that if it’s not safe for all students to return to school, then it also would not be safe for children with disabilities to do so.
The Pandemic: What Parents Can Do
Parents should request an IEP team meeting at the beginning of the school year to determine the student’s present level of performance. Afterward, parents should maintain weekly contact with the school district and/or the student’s IEP coordinator. Parents should communicate their concerns, keep and report data of what happens during the week, and ask for help when schoolwork must be modified.
Parents should regularly collect data on the student’s performance, including video, school work, or other documentation; data would be helpful for tracking the student’s progress or regression. Parents should communicate the specific struggles the child encounters with the child's teacher or educational team in writing, as well as create a record of communication.
When requesting services, parents should describe and document why the services are necessary. They should specify which learning activities require more time or what the child is struggling to grasp. Parents could also re-evaluate the student’s IEP; they could assess and adjust the learning goals to those that could be developed in the home environment. Parents should establish an agreement for when an in-person service such as physical or occupational therapy can resume if such services are not available now.
During remote learning, IEPs could include contingency plans if students must transition from in-person to online learning during the school year. These IEPs should include:
o Allowances for assisted technology devices to be sent home with students
o Instructional calls between parents and teachers to help guide parents through lessons
o Opportunities for students to visit campuses for specialized support
If a child doesn’t make progress on IEP goals or if a school has failed or is unable to fulfill the requirements of an IEP, a parent can request compensatory services—additional services to make up for the lost time and services. Here are 20 apps that may help, check out Useful Apps for Kids with Dyslexia and Learning Disabilities in 2022. If a parent can show that his or her child has actually regressed from the day when schools closed for the pandemic, the child is eligible for more intense services. To receive additional services typically requires giving evidence to illustrate that what the district is currently doing isn’t working and the services parents seek would be effective. Parents may need to seek private clinicians who can make specific recommendations for services a child needs.
References
Arundel, K. (2020, October 6). IEPs altered to reflect distance learning service changes, but at cost to schools. Industry Dive. Retrieved from https://www.k12dive.com/news/iep-changes-to-special-ed-services/586104/
Blad, E. (2020, March 31). Fierce debate as Devos weighs schools' obligations to students with disabilities. Editorial Projects in Education. Retrieved from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/03/devos-idea-coronavirus-special-education.html
Burgstahler, S. (2015, December 28) Opening doors or slamming them shut? Online learning practices and students with disabilities. Social Inclusion, 3(6), 69-79, doi: 10.17645/si.v3i6.420
Canterberry, L. (2020, October 12). Special education students given considerations amid pandemic. Community Impact Newspaper. Retrieved from https://communityimpact.com/austin/new-braunfels/education/2020/09/09/special-education-students-given-considerations-amid-pandemic/
Cardoza, K. (2020 September 8). Children with disabilities are falling behind as local schools proceed with remote learning. WAMU 88.5 American University Radio. Retrieved from https://dcist.com/story/20/09/08/distance-learning-local-children-dc-disabilities-fall-behind/
Connecting for Kids of Westlake (2015-2019). How to communicate Concerns with your child's school. Author. Retrieved from https://connectingforkids.org/learningconcerns
Levine, H. (2020 September 18). As School Returns, Kids With Special Needs Are Left Behind. The New York Times Company. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/16/parenting/school-reopening-special-needs.html
Livingston, T. (2020, September 8). Distance learning and special education during COVID-19. SmartBrief. Retrieved from https://www.smartbrief.com/original/2020/09/distance-learning-and-special-education-during-covid-19
Mitchell, C. (2020, September 16). Bridging distance for learners with special needs. Editorial Projects in Education. Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2020/09/17/bridging-distance-for-learners-with-special-needs.html
Moon, M. (2020, August 4). How to best support students with special needs during school closures. THEJournal. Retrieved from https://thejournal.com/articles/2020/08/04/how-to-best-support-students-with-special-needs-during-school-closures.aspx
Moses, S. (2020, May 8). Students with learning disabilities struggle amid distance learning. WKYC-TV. Retrieved from https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/education/students-with-learning-disabilities-struggle-with-distance-learning/95-090119ed-afae-40af-9469-a8bdba2193e9
Nelson, A. (2020, September 29). How COVID-19 Has Affected Special Education Students. Tufts Now. Retrieved from https://now.tufts.edu/articles/how-covid-19-has-affected-special-education-students
Petretto, D. R., Masala, I. and Masala, C. (2020, June 3). Special educational needs, distance learning, inclusion and COVID-19. Education Sciences. Retrieved from https://www.mdpi.com/journal/education
Pinho, F. E., (2020 August 14). How to adapt special education to the remote-learning reality. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-14/how-to-adapt-special-education-to-the-remote-learning-reality
Reiss, D. (2010, September 16). Planning your IEPs during COVID. ChicagoParent. Retrieved from https://www.chicagoparent.com/learn/special-needs/how-to-plan-ieps-during-pandemic/
Savoie, H. & Dickson, E. J. (2020, September 29). Amid COVID-19, parents of special-needs kids face a dilemma. Rolling Stone. Retrieved from https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/covid-19-special-needs-parents-education-dilemma-1064900/
Tugend A. (2020, April 23). Teachers of special-needs students struggle with feelings of helplessness. The New York Times Company. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/23/education/learning/coronavirus-teachers-special-needs-students.html
Voyager Sopris Learning (2023, November 14) What is dysgraphia? how to identify and support students. Voyager Sopris Learning. https://www.voyagersopris.com. http://www.voyagersopris.com/vsl/blog/what-is-dysgraphia-how-to-identify-and-support
Wikipedia (2020, September 11). Universal design for learning. Author. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Design_for_Learning
Resources
· Center on Online Learning and Students with Disabilities UDL Scan Tool
· Center on Online Learning and Students with Disabilities
· Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
· Council for Exceptional Children
· Council of Administrators for Special Education
· Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates
· COVID-19 Resources for Schools, Students, and Families
· Educating All Learners Alliance
· Education Civil Rights Alliance
· Federation for Children with Special Needs
· How to Handle IEPs During the Coronavirus Crisis
· Individuals With Disabilities Education Act
· Key Back-to-School Questions for ELLs and Students With Disabilities
· National Association of State Directors of Special Education
· National Center for Learning Disabilities
· National Center for Systemic Improvement
· Resolutions in Special Education
· Special Needs Advocacy Network
· U.S. Department of Education IDEA Information and Resources
· Universal Design for Learning
· What Is Dysgraphia? How to Identify and Support Students
[1] What is appropriate and what is least restrictive depends on the school district’s interpretation.
[2]A school must evaluate the child within 30-school days and meet with the child’s family after another 15-days, if a student is new to the special education system. IEPs (Individual Educational Plans) are rewritten each year by law; the child must be re-evaluated every three years to determine whether he or she is still eligible for special education.