AUTHOR=Sankoh Alfred , Hogle Jared , Payton Melinda , Ledbetter Karen TITLE=Evaluating parental experiences in using technology for remote learning to teach students with special needs during the COVID-19 pandemic JOURNAL=Frontiers in Education VOLUME=8 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/education/articles/10.3389/feduc.2023.1053590 DOI=10.3389/feduc.2023.1053590 ISSN=2504-284X ABSTRACT=Background

The 2020–2021 school year shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic brought an unprecedented burden on parents, especially those with special needs children. Parents with children with special needs were left to assist their children with remote learning at home using technology for the first time. These students with special needs were used to face-to-face and one-to-one classroom learning by skilled educators but are now left to be educated by their parents.

Objective

This study explored parents’ experiences assisting their special needs children with remote learning for the first time, using technology at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Method

A transcendental (descriptive) phenomenology was undertaken to explore the experiences of nine participants, recruited from two school divisions in Manitoba, Canada, on their child’s education and the challenges they experienced during remote learning from home. A purposive sampling technique was used, and data were collected through telephone interviews.

Results

Eight out of nine parents reported a negative experience with remote learning. Four major themes emerged after the data analysis: participants’ fear and anxiety during remote learning, difficulty maintaining routines during remote learning, students’ behavioral issues and mental health changes during remote learning, and lack of home support during remote learning. Furthermore, results indicated that integrating technology in remote learning for students with special needs was ineffective.

Conclusion

This study suggests poor communication between parents and teachers, and parents’ desire to be involved in planning remote learning for students with special needs during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown was not met. This study also suggests that schools failed to meet students’ IEPs during remote learning. Furthermore, this study highlights that remote learning for special-needs students is inappropriate without educational assistance.