Special education has emerged as one of the most significant concerns for families and schools during the global pandemic, with much of the focus on the plight of students who are separated from the teachers and specialists that ensure they have equal opportunities to learn.
But students with undiagnosed learning disabilities may also be missing out on services and supports during distance learning.
To help families and caregivers who suspect that their children may have disabilities or developmental delays, Understood.org and the American Academy of Pediatrics have developed , a digital guide available in English and Spanish.
The guide walks parents and caregivers through four steps鈥擭otice, Observe, Talk and Engage鈥攖o help them become aware of patterns in a child鈥檚 behavior, talk with teachers about what they鈥檙e seeing, and engage with pediatricians and school specialists who can help determine why their child is struggling.
Education Week spoke with Bob Cunningham, the executive director of learning development at Understood, about Take N.O.T.E. and how parents and schools can work together to address concerns about learning differences and difficulties. The questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Education Week: How can parents distinguish between potential signs of ADHD or a learning disability and the struggles that may come from being unfamiliar or uncomfortable with distance learning?
Cunningham: The trick is, 鈥極K, now we鈥檙e in this virtual environment a lot of time. How much of this is just being in a different environment and chaos in the world and that sort of stuff? And how much of it is something鈥檚 really going on with my kid?鈥� Take N.O.T.E. can help a parent look for patterns and then gives them advice on how to talk to their pediatrician, how to talk to their family, how to talk to the child to help them figure out what鈥檚 going on, and then how to communicate that to engage the school to get the support they need.
If you鈥檙e seeing an outsized reaction in your child, then it could very well be the result of a learning difference that really hasn鈥檛 been picked up yet by the school or by you. We wanted a tool that would help parents think that through thoroughly, instead of reacting, jumping to conclusions, or worse yet, doing nothing.
Education Week: How should parents and educators work together to understand what students are experiencing or what support they may need?
Cunningham: The communication between families and school is where the rubber meets the road, where relationships get built. If things don鈥檛 go well in those initial conversations where someone says, 鈥楬ey, I鈥檓 a parent and and I鈥檓 concerned about what I鈥檓 seeing with my kid,鈥� if the school doesn鈥檛 understand what the parent is saying or they鈥檙e not be able to articulate clearly or concisely specifics about what they鈥檙e seeing, then the school doesn鈥檛 give the response that the parent was expecting or hoping for. That could [throw off] the whole process.
Parents are with the kids the longest, they know the kids best. They know when something is not quite going well. We鈥檙e hoping that Take N.O.T.E can really help school teams and the parents communicate more concisely, more effectively to get the right kind of support for the kid.
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Image Credit: Understood.org