For Some Students with Special Needs Online Learning Hasn’t Worked

Online schooling has not gone well for Erin Croyle’s kids. Croyle and her husband have three children, ages 10, 7, and 5. Arlo is the oldest. He has Down’s Syndrome, ADHD and some hearing loss. “It’s kind of, just,” Croyle stops, let out a deep sigh and continues. “It’s, it’s awful,” she said. “And it’s not for a lack of the teachers doing an amazing job. And it’s not for a lack of everyone trying […]

School Decision-Making Tool for Parents, Caregivers, and Guardians

Many parents, caregivers, and guardians face new and difficult choices about how their child will return to school in the fall, such as deciding between in-person and virtual learning. This tool is designed to help parents, caregivers, and guardians weigh the risks and benefits of available educational options to help them make decisions about sending their child back to school. It is organized to provide parents and caregivers with: Information on COVID-19 and why safely […]

Since Schools Have Closed Parents of Special Needs Children ‘wearing many hats’

With 8-year-old triplets who go to school in Encinitas, each one on the autism spectrum, Jeff Ladman and his wife Tara felt “like the rug’s been pulled out from underneath” them when the novel coronavirus pandemic closed schools in mid-March and reduced therapy sessions to online only. Two of their sons, second-graders Keith and Holden, have class with special education and mainstream teachers at Flora Vista and are “high functioning,” Ladman said. The third, Jarrett, […]

Rethinking School Startup for Students with Special Needs

Post-pandemic brings new realities, problem-solving to the issues of mandated transportation for the most vulnerable student population. By Amanda Pampuro Getting vulnerable kids to school has always been challenging, but the spread of COVID-19 brings a whole new set of problems. How do you rearrange the school bus so students with wheelchairs are sitting far enough apart to adhere to physical distancing requirements? How do bus drivers and monitors adhere to those same standards when […]

Learning Remotely Is A Struggle For Students With Special Needs

Shanna Henderson says the coronavirus pandemic has triggered some of the most difficult moments of her life. She temporarily lost her job as a dental hygienist, and the statewide shift to remote learning left her scrambling to educate her six kids at home. But job security and playing teacher aren’t as difficult as managing the “profound behavioral challenges” of her 13-year-old son with severe autism and bipolar disorder, Henderson told Idaho Education News. “We now have […]