This will be an usual time to return to school - especially for children with special needs. Until regression data becomes available, probably no student was more adversely affected by the shutdown than those with special needs. How badly it affected your child is certainly a product of his or her disability.
Some students more easily adapted to distance learning than others. Autism, ADHD, vision or hearing impaired could not be expected to make the same progress toward their IEP goals and objectives than a student with OT, PT, or mild behavioral problems. All of these children were affected. However, the absence of the actual teacher, with whom the student has worked, curtails their progress in different ways. You have actually observed any regression without the use of a formal assessment. Consequently, you must emphasize what you witnessed during the past 5-6 months. You must insist on new evaluations, even if the last ones were only a year ago.
Rare circumstances require extraordinary measures. IEPs have to be re-examined and all of its constituent parts. Placements may need to be reviewed. However, even before this, you have to examine what your long-range goals and prospects are for your child. IEP goals and objectives are short-term (one year).
All of this information can be used by the school to develop your child’s Individualized Education Plan to help him or her progress during the coming year. You will have input to developing this plan.
This is a time you should prepare for all of the above. Re-think the “Concerns of Parents’” section of the existing IEP. Are they still the same? Your child’s needs and present levels of academic achievement and functional performance must be re-assessed as well as his or her goals and objectives given the long absence from school. Finally, are the criteria of the progress reports still valid.
