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In the past week (April 30 – May 7) Inclusion Ireland conducted a survey of parents of children with disabilities who are trying to home educate. 733 parents responded.
Children with intellectual disabilities and autism are missing school a lot. For children with complex behaviour and medical needs home education is very difficult or non-existent, despite the best efforts of parents and teachers.
The experience of parents across the country varies widely with some children having daily class via Zoom and access to educational materials and smart applications from their teacher but some other children are having no contact or education provision.
Parents are struggling to provide any form of education to disabled children while also trying to work from home, work on the front line and isolate at home, or minding other children or elderly adults.
Enda Egan, CEO of Inclusion Ireland commented “Home education is not working well for most families who have a child with an intellectual disability or autism. There are huge barriers to educating at home for parents, who are not teachers in most cases. Some parents state that their child presents with behaviours that can be a challenge or have poor attention skills that require the support of a skilled teacher and not a parent.”
Slightly more than 10% (or 76 respondents) have no access to any technology at all for schoolwork. These children need to be supported immediately by the Department of Education and Skills with a technology solution or direct access to teaching as they have no access to education at present. Most families have access to some form of technology such as a laptop, smartphone or iPad to access schoolwork, but this is often shared with a sibling or parent. Also, 45% of respondents do not have access to high speed broadband meaning no access to the internet or access only through costly 4G, continued Egan.
Finally, Enda stated that “Inclusion Ireland was seeking an urgent meeting with Minister for Education Joe McHugh to discuss the emerging crisis in special education. Children with disabilities require a range of supports including virtual or 1:1 access to a teacher (when public health allows), speech therapy, occupational therapy, technology for remote learning, lesson plans from the child’s Individual Education Plan and educational materials such as work sheets, arts and crafts.