LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- For nearly a year, remote learning has posed problems for many Jefferson County Public Schools families, but parents of special needs students have found the setup particularly stressful.
Michelle Hill spends each day helping her 5-year-old son, Stuart, with his online learning. The kindergartner at Medora Elementary School is autistic, and spending hours on a computer for school is difficult.
"He can't keep things out of his mouth. He can't keep his hands off of things," Hill said. "He's always in his nose or in his mouth or his eyes, and wearing a mask is great for short periods of times, but long periods of time he can't do it. There's no possible way I could send him to school and expect him to wear a mask."
Hill works from home around her son's remote learning schedule.
"It's so stressful. I'm starting to go bald," she said. "I'm having to change my hair because I'm getting even more bald than I was before."
About 12,500 JCPS students are in its Exceptional Child Education (ECE) program, according to the school district.
"Our kids have a significant amount of flexibility during their day," said Kim Chevalier, the chief administrator of JCPS' ECE program. "We ask parents to call, talk to their teacher, talk to their implementation coaches at the school. We'll work with parents."
ECE is designed to meet the needs of students who have educational disabilities, but Chevalier said educators understand how online learning can be a challenge.
"We have a specialized curriculum for our MSD students, which is our moderate and severe disability students, in those more self-contained classrooms," she said. "What we noticed when we went into virtual learning (is) not every single classroom had that curriculum, so we immediately ordered that curriculum."
Chevalier told WDRB News she "firmly" believes students need to be learning in person "as much as possible."
"There is nothing like seeing your teacher and the gestures of your teacher," she said.
About 60% of ECE students have opted for in-person learning, according to Chevalier. While virtual learning can be difficult from some students, however, it is working for others like Joshua Lewis of Breckinridge-Franklin Elementary.
Joshua is blind. In a video presentation that is required for his moving up to middle school, he says, "I am good at math. I enjoy science."
Joshua used his BrailleNote Touch to read the text from his presentation slides.
"I am good at making friends," he says in the video. "I am good at reading braille."
"You're watching a child that struggles to be with the norm (and) to be with the regular population," Chevalier said. "He has different types of braille writing; he has different resources that he uses just to put together a video."
There was a lot of clapping and comments from his teachers after Joshua finished his 45-minute presentation. One teacher says, "You did a really nice job in your presentation, Joshua."
"It is just heart-warming," Chevalier said. "... He has shown success, so it proves that, over this past year, that kids are learning virtually. That's what we want to see. We want to see that progress, and he did it, and he did it well."
For Hill, Medora teachers have made all the difference as her son and she try to make the most of online learning.
"Mr. Perry has learned through the meetings how Stuart learns, how to best engage him and how best to keep him focused with me assisting on this end," she said.
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