By Natasha Allen
Children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities were greatly affected by the national lockdown, which led to many parents and carers needing to homeschool their children.
Many of those affected would previously have received extra assistance in the form of specialist one-to-one sessions, therapies and help groups. Such facilities were simply unavailable for many across the country. Remote learning and support was something many parents found difficult to provide.
Autism is a neurological and developmental disorder that can impact relationships, self-regulation, social skills and communication. Aaron MacFarlane, parent of an six-year-old child with autism, says that getting his son to concentrate on his schoolwork at home has been his biggest struggle.
“The most difficult thing about homeschooling a child with special needs was getting him to concentrate on the actual work itself,” said the bar manager.
“Being at home, he knows where all of his devices and toys are, so getting him to sit and have the structure of a school place at home was extremely difficult.”
Looking at school syllabus
The structure of the syllabus schools provide is one that is very generalised for classes and year groups as a whole. There wasn’t the individually produced home learning materials that would be befitting to the specific needs of each individual.
Keeping to a routine had been a “very big struggle” for many parents, said said Elisabeth Stainer, Teacher in FL German and Theatre Studies/Drama at West London College.
“For those parents that were required to work from home, they had to put priority into doing the work and following the timetable their employer was expecting from them. This would lead to children being expected to get on with their studies themselves and that is almost impossible for those with special education needs (SEN) to do,” she said.
“As a teacher and a parent I am not saying it’s the case that parents can’t be teachers, however teaching your own children at home is a very strenuous task. Your child will see you as their parent not their teacher. And for many special needs children this is something they simply are unable to process and adapt with.”
Parents have complained that not enough help and assistance has been provided for families with children of SEN. They say that many of the technological support in the forms of specialist apps, teaching handbooks and worksheets were simply not made available to many.
The charity Scope acknowledges that homeschooling a child with special needs “may be challenging”. It says that schools “should provide guidance and support in home learning tasks for your child. They should tell you what your child needs to learn to continue their education”. Parents who are not getting what they need, it adds, should complain to their local authority.
SCIE, the Social Care Institute for Excellence, earlier this month produced a guide for parents supporting children or adults with learning difficulties, including autism. It talks about promoting routines, taking necessary health precautions and “personal budgets” that parents of children with an EHC, or educational, health and care plan are entitled to receive.
Time will tell
Only time will tell the impact that this global pandemic has had on the younger generations. Many have struggled to interact and participate with their peers again and others have missed out large sections of their curriculum and will require extra assistance in the next few months.
More support needs to be provided by the government, not just for those families during lockdown but overall. More help and funding should be available for those with special needs and disabilities.
Brilliant article!
Brilliant article!