A special education teacher explains why virtual learning is so hard on her students
Six million American children need special education. Are they falling through the cracks during the pandemic?
It isn’t easy setting up a virtual classroom on the fly. As the coronavirus pandemic grinds the nation’s education system to a halt, teachers have navigated computer shortages, spotty internet access, and chaotic Zoom calls in order to offer their students a valuable lesson plan in a time when nobody can leave their homes. But for special education teachers, there are many other variables to consider — and teacher Taylor Elise, 24, says many aren’t getting the guidance they need.
There are more than 6 million children in the United States receiving special education services. Elise, who lives in North Carolina, teaches 11 of them. She says that since the state closed schools in mid-March, county overseers have focused almost exclusively on students in general education. The resources she’s received are often tuned to scholastic plans outside of special ed and are of little use to her. Instead, Elise finds herself diverging from the county’s advice to generate her own curriculum, and her own virtual lessons, in the absence of any reliable leadership.
This has proved exceedingly difficult. As is the case in so many special education classrooms, Elise’s students have a wide variety of unique needs and abilities. Some of her students, she says, are nonverbal and rely on physical interaction. How do you translate that care virtually? What of the students who live in Spanish-speaking households, or those who don’t have a spare laptop? These are the questions Elise is forced to answer, often all by herself. What follows is a transcript of our conversation, lightly edited for clarity and length.
When did the pandemic start affecting your job?
So on March 11 or 12, Durham County schools announced they were closing. That was the first inkling things were going to happen in North Carolina. I’m in Wake County [bordering Durham County], we were waiting, and by the end of the day on Friday we thought we were going to school on Monday. But on Sunday, they made the announcement they were closing schools because an elementary school teacher had tested positive. I told my kids, “Bye, see you Monday!” And that turned into, “We won’t be in schools indefinitely.”
What do you remember from the immediate aftermath of that?
After that happened, we sent out information to parents to get info about what they needed food-wise and resource-wise. The next week I was dropping off food for two of my families. We have a Backpack Buddies program, which got CONTINUE READING: Online learning: A special ed teacher explains why it’s so hard on her students - Vox