Reporter's notebook:
Robbie Gaffney
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Growing up, my own school environment was not sensitive to people with special needs. One of my teachers used to mock students with developmental disabilities, calling them names behind their backs.
At age 10, I was diagnosed with a disorder that affects how I process sound, so sometimes I have difficulty making sense of spoken words. Now, I am a radio journalist. I was able to overcome that challenge, in part because my parents constantly fought for my right to have accommodations: I needed a seat at the front of the classroom and extra time on tests.
At the onset of the pandemic, when schools across the country began shutting their doors, my thoughts instantly went to the kids who need extra help. How would they get what they needed to succeed, like I did?
As I found in my reporting for Class of COVID-19, during the pandemic, many students with disabilities have lost out on vital services like occupational therapy that they typically receive at school. Even with school buildings back open since last fall, many kids are still suffering acutely.
On my reporting journey, I also met a student who is thriving, because she was able to get the specialized therapies she needs at home.
When I met Isabelle Dietz, she was wearing magenta pants and purple glasses. Right away, she noticed the chest straps on my backpack were unbuckled, and she wanted to snap them in for me. Isabelle is a kindergartener at a public school in Tallahassee, and she has GAND, a rare disorder that affects brain development.
While she can't speak words, she can communicate. She vocalizes, points and makes hand gestures to express herself, and her mom, April, translates for her. I was surprised to find how well they understood each other.
At one point during our interview, Isabelle pointed at the seesaw in her family's backyard and then gave her mom a knowing smile. April laughed and told me Isabelle wanted me to go on it with her.
It’s moments like these — being able to connect and interact — that we take for granted. Not everyone has that ability.
— Robbie Gaffney, WFSU reporter
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For Special Education Students, A Potential Side Effect Of COVID-19 School Closures: Struggling To Communicate
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Cut off from critical therapies and isolated from their peers, some students with disabilities began to lose their ability to express themselves past their wants and needs. Read, listen and watch here.
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How One School For Fragile Kids With Disabilities Navigated COVID-19 Closures
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School shutdowns during the pandemic required a lot of parents to try to be teachers. For parents with children who have disabilities, COVID-19 has asked them to be speech therapists and occupational therapists, as well. The principal of a small charter school in Miami that serves kids with disabilities found a way to get her neediest students through the tough closures of last spring. Read, listen and watch here.
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This is the final issue of the Class of COVID-19 newsletter! Thank you to everyone who subscribed and followed along with us. Catch up on our past issues here.
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Early Beginnings, a small charter school in Miami, serves only children with disabilities and severe medical conditions. The principal has had to be creative to help her students survive and thrive during the pandemic. (Michael Anderson/WLRN)
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On the topic: Students with disabilities and COVID-19
- There's bipartisan support in Congress for an investigation into whether school districts violated federal and state laws in their handling of students with disabilities during the pandemic. (Disability Scoop)
- U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and former teacher, proposed a $100 billion investment in addressing the academic, social and emotional impacts of the pandemic on school children, with priority for students with disabilities and other groups deemed most vulnerable. (Boston Globe)
- A bill advancing in New Jersey's Legislature would extend the age limit for students with disabilities to receive specialized services, in order to make up for what many students lost amid school closures. (Insider NJ)
- Studies have shown intellectual disabilities are a risk factor for severe cases of COVID-19, but people with those disabilities have not been prioritized for vaccines. "What does this say about us as physicians and as a society?" asked Wendy Ross, director of Thomas Jefferson University's Center for Autism and Neurodiversity, in an op-ed. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
- Limited access to electricity and technology has made Native American students with disabilities in rural areas especially vulnerable to the educational detriments of COVID-19. (Rural Special Education Quarterly)
- The pandemic shift to virtual learning has made it easier for some students with disabilities that affect their mobility to attend college. (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)
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Positive messages adorn classroom doors at Early Beginnings Academy, a Miami charter school serving students with special needs. (Michael Anderson/WLRN)
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In the news: Class of COVID-19 continues with ongoing coverage from Florida Public Media.
- Experts hope COVID-19 can be an opportunity to solve long standing inequities in education. When students began learning virtually because of the pandemic, "one of the things we also saw for many Black and brown kids is that the number of suspensions decreased," said Guerda Nicolas, a professor of psychology at the University of Miami school of education and human development. Read and listen to this Class of COVID-19 segment on WLRN's Sundial here.
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ICYMI
Over the last month, we have explored how schools are trying to feed hungry kids and keep them learning online. How educators are trying to locate "missing" students and the children of farmworkers. How Black college students, queer young people and school shooting survivors are coping with isolation. How racial and socioeconomic inequity and gentrification are affecting students' recovery. How the impending state budget deficit could impact public school funding and university tuition. How the crisis is accelerating the loss of local control over public education — and much more.
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Keep an eye out for our final story, coming soon, on how cuts to Florida's Bright Futures scholarship this legislative session could hurt Black and Latino students the most. Find all of our reporting at classofcovid.org. Thank you for taking this journey with us. Take care and stay safe.
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Funding for Class of COVID-19 was provided in part by the Hammer Family Charitable Foundation and the Education Writers Association.
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