![]() The district says that special education teachers are helping to figure out what learning will look like for kids with disabilities. The goal is that by mid-April, teachers will offer virtual lessons and make alternatives available for kids who don’t have computers and Wi-Fi. The San Francisco Unified School District, where Iolani attends school, is gradually phasing in a plan for online learning. She learned to walk and talk, and after spending preschool with kids with severe disabilities, she entered general education classes in elementary and flourished. But Van Brusselen could feel the baby kicking inside her and hoped they were wrong. Her doctors told her there was an 80 percent chance her daughter wouldn’t survive after birth and encouraged her to terminate the pregnancy. Van Brusselen learned just a month before her due date that her baby had hydrocephalus, or an accumulation of fluid in the brain. Related: Desperate parents need help as coronavirus upends their livesįor Van Brusselen, these past few weeks have been the most challenging since the period right after Iolani’s birth. But civil rights advocates remain concerned that a provision in the coronavirus package passed by Congress last week will let some districts off the hook for not serving kids with disabilities. Guidance from the Department of Education prompted some school districts to reverse that decision, and many have ramped up efforts to offer online learning. In fact, when school districts first closed, some opted not to provide distance learning to any students, in part out of concerns that they wouldn’t be able to effectively serve kids in special education and would face lawsuits as a result. Not only does she need more specialized support than many students, but her vision challenges and other impairments can make online learning difficult.Īdvocates, educators and parents say that kids with disabilities are particularly vulnerable as schools shut down to slow the spread of the coronavirus and turn to remote learning. ![]() ![]() Over the course of a typical school week, the fifth grader works with two teachers, three instructional aides and seven therapists. Iolani is one of roughly 7 million children - 14 percent of all public school students - who receive federally mandated special education services because of their disabilities. “How do I help her to not regress from all the skills she’s gotten from being in school for so long and getting help from so many professionals? In a way, it feels a little hopeless right now.” Iolani “was never supposed to walk or talk and she does both,” Van Brusselen said. ![]()
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