The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting all Americans. SafeMinds specifically recognizes the unique needs and challenges of the autism community during this unprecedented time. Our goal is to lessen the impact of COVID-19 on families by regularly monitoring and sharing resources that may help children and adults with autism cope with the uncertainty of the pandemic.
LA Times Finds Extensive Regression in Special Ed Students Since March
“Stalled progress,” “loss of skills,” “no semblance of education,” “helpless,” “frustration,” “huge regression,” “inconsistent,” ”not sufficient,” are just a few terms parents, teachers, advocates, and therapists used in a recent front-page Los Angeles Times article to describe special education services provided to California’s 760,000 students with disabilities since COVID-19 shutdown schools.
Conveying Educational Needs Via Remote Learning Proves Challenging
School closures have provided students in special education with lessons that are reduced to just minutes a day, coupled with isolation from peers, these students have experienced weak educational programs and loneliness via home learning. These students aren’t the only ones in distress. Special education teachers with advanced degrees and specific certifications feel unprepared and unqualified to instruct via remote education. Parents are frustrated as well, maintaining that in person instruction is critical for their child’s progress. Could there be hope for these groups to adjust to remote learning this fall?
COVID-19 Autism Resource Round-Up
To support special needs families during COVID-19, SafeMinds has assembled a comprehensive list of resources to make life at home more manageable. These resources have been broken down into different categories. Most categories include several links, giving many options to see what works best for your special needs family member.
U.S. Schools Ask Congress for IDEA Liability Protections
Fears Rising of Massive Special Education Litigation As the coronavirus pandemic continues, students with disabilities and their families are facing the rapidly approaching fall semester with reservations, as many of these families suffered through enormous difficulties last spring while trying to implement special education programs remotely. These families are now left to wonder if the […]
Individuals with Developmental Disabilities May Suffer More Severe COVID Outcomes
As the global pandemic continues to grow, concerning news originating from SUNY Upstate Medical University shows that COVID-19 appears to pose a greater threat to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The report published in Disability and Health Journal set out to compare COVID-19 outcomes among people with and without IDD through three different age spans.
Post COVID-19 Pilot Program for Students with Autism
Classrooms across the nation will be facing numerous modifications as students return to school after the coronavirus pandemic. Social distancing, face coverings, reduced classroom size and staggered school schedules are only a handful of proposed changes suggested to mitigate risk of contagion on campuses.
