Pandemic learning poses added challenges for students with special needs

Even before the pandemic hit, Sarah Klodnicki had considered homeschooling her four children, the oldest of which has autism spectrum disorder. When schools closed for in-person learning last spring, she took the leap.

They had to put a stationary bike in my kid's classroom for crying out loud," she said. There was no way my child was going to sit there and try to do online learning, so I took them out."

Klodnicki, who also runs a non-profit aimed at supporting caregivers of individuals with special needs called Balance Support and Self Care Studios, teaches her kids - who were previously enrolled in the Catholic board - using their own version of home school," she said. That involves midday hikes and chores on their hobby farm on Twenty Road East in Hamilton, as well as traditional subjects like math and science.

I am very creative and, thank goodness for my own ADHD, I've got a lot of energy, but I mean, I've got four kids and I'm trying to teach them all different things at the same time," she said.

Klodnicki said her situation is unique and she recognizes that not all families have the option - or the ability - to homeschool their kids.

Approximately 570 students with special needs are learning in-person - and many more learning remotely - at Hamilton's public and Catholic schools during the stay-at-home order.

They need the socialization with other people for generalization of skills," said Heather Atkinson-Rossi, whose nine-year-old son is currently learning in a self-contained classroom at a public school. If we teach my guy something at home, I want him to be able to do that same thing with other adults, with other kids."

Atkinson-Rossi said her son, who is nonverbal autistic, spends about 45 minutes on the bus to get from their central Hamilton home to the school on Stoney Creek Mountain. He wears a mask, but she knows many of his classmates aren't able to wear a face covering or physically distance.

As an educational assistant with the public board, she said she is on both sides."

Am I scared? Of course I am. Because I have two little kids to look after at home and ... we don't know who our students are exposed to," she said. But I do recognize what it does for my son being in school."

The classroom is just one of many places that has been disrupted by the pandemic, causing additional challenges for students with autism.

One of the diagnostic characteristics is that there is a preference, or almost a need, for sameness and routine and consistency," said Andrew Davis, director of Sonderly, the learning division at Geneva Centre for Autism.

Earlier this month, the province announced $7.5 million in funding for online training courses to help Ontario educators in all 72 school boards better support students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which will be administered by Sonderly.

Davis said some students with autism may prefer online learning because of the absence of classroom distractions. But, he said, many students will struggle, especially those who need more support - like gesturing or pointing to something on a page - than just the sound of a teacher's voice.

It becomes a lot more difficult to provide those extra cues in a virtual setting," he said.

Walker Hill, a Grade 9 student with the Catholic board who has autism, has struggled since remote learning began.

He was loving high school, like, he loved going and the teachers were fantastic and the kids were great," said his mother, Rebekah Clarke Hill, adding that he's a more reluctant learner now that a day in the classroom has turned into hours glued to a screen.

We're noticing a big difference in Walker."

She said her son's friendships aren't easily fostered over the phone or FaceTime. Since school went virtual, Clarke Hill has noticed her son talking to himself, answering his own questions.

He's craving social interaction, which I can't provide for him right now because there's nowhere for him to go," she said. School was a huge outlet for him just to talk to other people."

Kate McCullough is a Hamilton-based reporter covering education at The Spectator. Her work is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. Reach her via email: kmccullough@thespec.com