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Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic effected educational institutions drastically. In Spring 2020, a
vast majority of K-12 schools shifted to emergency remote teaching to decrease the spread of the
virus. Untrained parents became their child’s full-time teacher, resulting in frustrations amongst
parents, students, and teachers. Children with exceptionalities suffered the most because they
thrive from routines and having trained educators provide a specialized curriculum tailored to
meet their educational needs. The impact of COVID-19 on education has highlighted the
importance of parental involvement while children with exceptionalities are learning remotely.
Parental engagement can be very difficult when parents are confronting several everyday
stressors along with the new role of full-time teacher to their child with exceptionalities. For
online learning to be successful, parents and teachers must maintain open communication and
build relationships (Lesh, 2020). As the battle with COVID-19 remains prevalent, parents are
struggling with online learning, maintaining employment, protecting their families from the
virus, and maintaining strong mental health. Teachers must understand each child’s home
environment to appropriately assist parents in implementing their child’s Individualized
Education Plan (IEP).
Historical Summary
Online learning is a method of learning where students and teachers are physically
separated, and learning happens primarily through technology. Online learning has become a
popular alternative for children with exceptionalities in the past decade. However, distance
learning is not a new way of learning. Distance learning can be traced back to the 18th century
when mail-in courses became popular. Distance learning gave women and people of color an
opportunity to educate themselves when it was disapproved. In the 1950s, slide projectors and
television-based classes began. With the progression of technology, distance learning is readily
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available to anyone around the world who has access to an electronic device and the internet. As
of June 2012, 98% of Americans had access to internet download speeds of at least 3 megabits
per second (Mbps) and 78.5% of Americans had access to broadband speed of 25 Mbps, the
speed considered basic and sufficient for online learning (Meadan & Daczewitz, 2015).
Online learning can be delivered effectively asynchronously (occurring at different times)
and synchronously (in real time) to offer options that best meets the needs of the learner.
Students can learn at their own pace and level while being engaged in content and curriculum
that is designed to meet their learning goals. Before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,
online learning for parents of children with exceptionalities was a choice. Some parents chose to
educate their children at home due to fears of bullying, lack of faith in their school system, or
their child may have extensive medical needs that could not be met at school. Parents who chose
online learning for their special needs child are more likely to be prepared and engaged. When
schools closed in Spring 2020, students were mandated to transition to online learning and that
transition was difficult for several families with special needs students. COVID-19 has played a
major role in the evolution of online learning. Online learning may possibly become a normal
option for all K-12 students with exceptionalities post COVID-19 with organized curriculum in
place.
Current Issues
Children with special needs are often sensitive to changes in daily routines that results in
experiencing anxiety and restlessness (Lučić et al., 2020). With the sudden shift to online
learning due to the pandemic; teachers, students, and parents were not prepared. Students with
exceptionalities routines were interrupted causing regression in their skills that took years to
achieve. Even without the pandemic, parents of children with exceptionalities face difficulties
far beyond those faced by parents of typically developing children, including dealing with
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specific needs of their child’s disability, financial strain, lack of free time, lack of needed face-to-
face support, and having to possess roles other than just parent (Lučić et al., 2020). Parents were
forced into the role of teacher when they heavily relied on the public school system to their
child’s education. Parents grappled with trying to work, run errands, assist their child with
online, and keeping their families safe from the virus. Often, parents could not prioritize logging
in to an online classroom as most of them are attempting to balance day-to-day responsibilities
along with caring for a special needs child. When there’s a problem with parental involvement,
many different factors are apparent. Some parents do not have mental capability to assist their
child in online learning, some parents may have had negative experiences in school and do not
want to deal with teachers, other may not feel confident in learning technology or lack of interest
in collaborating with teachers to help their child with online learning. Parents can also worry
about being judged by teachers or administrators which makes them reluctant to contact the
school for anything.
Garbe et al. (2020) states that learners’ special needs, lack of parent content knowledge,
need for teacher communication, and lack of quality internet all effect parental and student
engagement. Children may not view their home environment as a learning environment or have
accessibility to technology that was used in school, resulting in lack of learner motivation.
Several special needs students struggle to focus on a screen for long time and need face-to-face
interaction with skilled teachers to thrive. Online classrooms are complex and when compared
to traditional classrooms are less personal, comprised of asynchronous communication, and
primarily dependent on the learner which is a fundamental shift in the educational paradigm
(Foster et al., 2018). Online learning requires students to draw from a different skill set than
what is used in a traditional classroom setting, such as self-regulation or balancing classroom
settings and life at home (Kamei & Harriott, 2021). That’s why parental involvement is so
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important for children with exceptionalities while learning online. The focus during online
learning should be on abilities and not children’s inabilities and parents should help with this by
telling teachers what works or not for their children (de Klerk and Palmer, 2021).
Teachers and school professionals are not immune to the toll of online learning. School
leaders should provide teachers and professionals opportunities to have conversations about their
struggles with online teaching. When teachers manage their social and emotional demand and
well-being, the quality of teacher-student relationships is boosted and their effectiveness in
classroom management increase, resulting in children feeling comfortable in the learning
community and learn more deeply (Kamei & Harriott, 2021). Teachers set the tone for parental
and student engagement. It is important for teachers to prioritize their mental health to properly
lead their online classroom and guide parents in implementing their curriculum. In many
countries, the economic crisis that will follow the COVID-19 crisis will mean it is even less
likely that children with disabilities will be able to go to school (O’Neill & Duncan, 2020). That
gives all stakeholders the opportunity to improve current issues that affect special needs students
during online learning.
Strategies
Teachers should focus on the social-emotional health of parents to build relationships.
When their social-emotional health is good, parents are more likely to collaborate with teachers.
Progress of students with exceptionalities rely heavily on parents and teachers working together.
Murray et al. (2018) suggests districts implementing initiatives that involve parent-teacher
partnerships to improve instruction and learning for students with disabilities as well as other at-
risk learners. In order to support children with disabilities in an online setting, parents must have
access to and support from the school (Burdette & Greer, 2020). Educators have to differentiate
their practices for each family. Some families struggle with online learning and have little
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support while others report no struggles. In online learning, parents become the primary
educator while teachers facilitate the curriculum. Collier et al. (2015) states that it is essential
that teacher preparation programs offer teacher candidates opportunities for expanding their
awareness, understanding, and knowledge of the process of building and maintaining
partnerships with parents and families. If teachers are prepared and trained early in their career
on how to facilitate parental involvement, it makes transitioning to emergency remote teaching
easier for everyone involved.
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced all learners to attend classes virtually, school
systems, teachers, parents, and students who were new to online learning were not prepared. The
pandemic gave a unique challenge for educators, policy makers, and health care professionals to
partner with parents to make the best individual decision for their child (Black et al., 2021). It is
understood that online learning is not beneficial for all students with disabilities, but there are
advantages to meeting the educational needs of children who are medically fragile and tend to
experience frequent absences (Black et al., 2021). To successfully move forward with online
learning for children with exceptionalities, schools will have to increase flexibility, prioritize
mental health of parents and students, and be intentional on building online learning
communities that imitates the in-person classroom.
Biblical Integration
Parenting a child with special needs can leave a person feeling depressed, overwhelmed,
anxious, and struggling in their faith (Soehnlin, 2019). Whether we are parenting or teaching a
child with disabilities, we must always remember the power of God’s word and the power of
prayer to give us strength and encouragement. Galatians 6:9 states, “Let us not become weary in
doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” In everything
that we do, we must keep the mindset to think like Jesus and treat others in a way that is pleasing
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to him. Working with the special needs population and their families is a mission. Educators can
often become frustrated and impatient. We must empower students and families as Jesus would
and model his compassion and grace.
Jesus taught his disciples by demonstrating how to be good servants. He guided and
monitored their work until he saw that they could go out and minister alone (Hunsberger, 2016).
When teaching online, we must guide parents and students until they are comfortable navigating
online materials independently. Jesus taught his disciples in this manner so we should follow in
his footsteps.
Conclusion
For some families of children with disabilities, virtual learning is a necessity and not a
choice because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Special education teachers are certified and trained
to meet the academic needs of a child with a disability. Their skills must translate to parents
clearly for parents to implement instruction to their child. Students with disabilities require
unique instruction and schools must involve parents of these students according to the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. To move forward with successful virtual learning,
educators must understand the home lives of each child and needs of the caregivers to make
appropriate modifications to instruction that works for each child with exceptionalities at home.
Each family has unique needs that need to be met to prioritize online learning. Once teachers
build relationships with parents and understand what those needs are, parents will be more
willing to increase pedagogical and content knowledge to meet their child’s educational needs.
Virtual learning will be around for a very long time, consequently schools have to
adequately prepare caregivers to use technology and programs to teach their child. Teachers
must be trained on how to engage parents and help meet their individual needs to ensure student
success. Research supports that online learning can be a more suitable solution than attending an
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in-person, especially when a student may experience frequent absences due to illness and/or
frequent doctor visits (Black et al., 2021). As we continue to navigate education through the
pandemic, focused research should work to determine the most effective means of conveying
knowledge to online learners and investigate how communication can effectively promote
engagement and presence in the online classroom (Foster et al., 2018).
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