5 Promising Practices to Accelerate Learning for Disabled Students During COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has turned almost every parent in the world upside down. Since the pandemic started, most parents in America have taken a new role as co-teachers. As students slowly transition to remote learning, parents of disabled students are facing challenges that need to be looked at. While every parent’s situation is different, we are going to share with you five promising practices that you can use to accelerate learning for your child during the pandemic. Even if you don’t have a disabled student at home, some of the tips that we are going to share can help you promote learning at home. Let’s get started!
Focus on health and wellbeing
Most parents and caregivers are facing a wide range of stressors at home thanks to the pandemic. And they include working remotely, performing essential work which is risky, navigating unemployment, and looking after family members who might not be feeling well. Balancing all these responsibilities becomes even harder if they have a disabled child who may need extra support and faces more health risks.
While the education of your child matters, your family’s health, and wellbeing should always come first. Without health and wellbeing, there’s nothing much you can do for your child. You need to try as much as you can to focus on fitting the education of your child into the family’s schedule in a sustainable way for the next few months.
Understand the rights of your child
All students in the United States have a right to public education that is free and appropriate according to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This applies to remote learning too. If learning institutions are operating remotely, they have to fulfill the education requirements of their students by providing modifications, accommodations, and support under the Rehabilitation Act.
If any placement changes are necessary for students, the school administration should meet remotely to identify the needed adjustments and ensure that the student can access the needed internet access and technology required to learn. If some services cannot be delivered remotely, the school administration will be required to compensate the disabled student under applicable requirements and standards. Understanding your child’s rights will make it easier for you to know what your child needs to start learning and when to report any illegal practices.
Communicate effectively
Teachers have been trained on the behaviors of children in the learning environment. Since you know how your child behaves at home, you should not hesitate to talk to your child’s tutor about the behavioral patterns that you’ve started noticing. Inform your child’s tutor about the learning methods that are working and ask them about the methods that have been effective in the school environment for your child. Partnering with your child’s tutor is one of the best ways to help your child learn effectively during the pandemic. Identify some of the best ways that will help you stay in touch with your tutor and learning institution so that you can share questions, updates and ask for support in ways that work effectively for you and your child. If you need guidance in any area, always seek professional help from your child’s tutor. Some of the questions that you consider asking your child’s tutor include:
- What is my child’s progress in school?
- Have you noticed any socio-emotional behaviors in my child?
- How can I help my child interact with their colleagues remotely?
- How can I adapt to lesson plans that fit within the needs and schedules of my child and family?
- How does the school administration communicate with parents? And what should I expect in terms of updates in the following year?
Create a routine
Families need routines to organize themselves and get things done. While every family has a unique routine, routines help them know what should be done, when, how often, and in what order. A home environment that is organized and predictable is great for disabled children. Routines are especially important when children are going through a tough experience or during stressful times.
If your child needs to do a certain medical procedure or take medicine, a routine will make it easier for both of you to remember. Family routines are also perfect for learners to develop and improve skills. Even if your child has several complex needs, they will enjoy being part of the daily routine. Since routines are great tools, what makes a good one?
Since disabled students need routine more than their counterparts, it’s best to come up with one that suits the needs of you and your child. Effective routines have three key features namely:
- Regular: Good routines are part of the family life every day
- Well planned: Good routines are clear and every family member understands what they need to do every day
- Predictable: A good routine is predictable in that everything happens in a similar order all the time
At some point, you might think of changing the routine because what works today might not work in the days to come. Things change and unexpected things happen. Therefore, you need to be as flexible and adaptable as a cv writing service. Having a break from your routine from time to time is great for children with disabilities. If you are having a hard time coming up with a routine that will work for you and your child, you should seek help from a professional. Working with your child’s tutor will allow you to build a routine with learning opportunities for your child.
Do away with the 8 to 3 model
The learning environment in the school is different from home learning. Since the average child’s attention span lasts for around twenty minutes, it’s not realistic to expect that your child will sit and learn for consecutive hours during the day. This is especially true if their disabilities affect their attention. Quality will always come before quantity in everything. Your child may have to read thesis writing service articles or attend synchronous classes that need to be done in real-time.
However, you need to break the day as much as you can. Consider how your child’s learning needs can fit around the schedule of a professional research paper writing service to minimize stress on the entire family. Always focus on a full day instead of the standard school schedule. During the day, encourage your child to take breaks frequently especially when they start feeling tired or stressed out. Simple physical exercises such as cleaning up or gardening are a great way to redirect focus and energy.
Bonus Tip:
Understand behavioral challenges
Children know that their parents are not their tutors. These two roles are different from each other. And disabled children take this literally. When these two roles come together, it can lead to conflict and resistance especially since learners are more likely to talk back to their parents than tutors. Integrating learning into your child’s life is important. Taking regular breaks and taking time to relax and cool down when either party becomes frustrated is essential.
Parents will discover that specific teaching methods can be frustrating or challenging and fail to realize that professional tutors present things differently in class than remotely. If you’ve studied a concept several times and you are having a hard time grasping it, look for ways to illustrate it using visual objects. Don’t be afraid to seek help from your tutor about the teaching methods that have worked for them well.
Difficult situations at home will always provide a great opportunity to discover how your child grasps new concepts using thesis writing service. Look at how your child behaves around their tutors and how their tutors work with them. Having this knowledge will help you understand the learning process of your child and create a toolbox to help them achieve their academic goals. Always ask for help when things get difficult and personalize everything if remote learning is not working well for your child.
Conclusion
In the end, you need to recognize that every family is facing traumas and unique challenges during the pandemic. As a parent, you need to prioritize health above everything else. Asking for help from professionals will pay back in spades in the long run. Disabled students can learn comfortably at home with the right tools.
About the author:
Tiffany Harper is a training guru who’s been working in the corporate sector as a technology expert for several years now. She is a management graduate and loves to share her experience through blogs and expert articles with proofreading services. For her love of writing, she provided online consultations for writing service while working with College paper reviews. Please do not hesitate to contact her on LinkedIn.