Virtual Learning: how kids with special needs have been left in the dark

As the new school year takes off virtually, challenges have arisen for children being forced to sit in front of a computer screen for extended periods of time. Children with special needs have been hit particularly hard. Many are provided extra support during a normal school year, but because of online learning, some parents say the extra support is nonexistent.

KABC in Los Angeles reports that some parents and state officials are suing Gov. Gavin Newsom over the state's ban on in-person schooling. Many believe low-income minority families, single parent families and children with disabilities have been profoundly impacted.

"He’s definitely regressing, he’s not even getting a tidbit of education or keeping with the status quo. He’s going backwards," Palm Springs Unified School District parent, Susanna Romig said.

Romig's 12-year-old son is in 7th grade. He is diagnosed with autism and has been in special education classes since he was 3 years old.

"He typically gets speech therapy, he was getting occupational therapy, he gets special PE and 1-to-1 aid," Romig said.

Most of the resources her son receives are on hold, as students are forced to learn at a distance. Romig said despite her son being in an online special education class, he has to sit through 3-4 hours of instruction daily and it has become a challenge.

"There’s just not not as much of a structure as there typically is as an in-person classroom. It just seems disjointed and all over the place," said Romig.

She and her husband both work and are unable to provide constant support to her son. Even though the new school year just started, she believes there was a lack of planning for kids who require special attention.

"It was about 2 days before the school started. You can go by the school and pick up work and what they had me pick up seemed like the typical 7th grader packet-- he hasn’t really been using any of it so that was the only communication I received."

On Friday the state announced it would soon release new guidelines tailored to students with disabilities. Schools in districts on the state's watchlist would be provided exceptions for in-person instruction.

Riverside County remained on the watchlist as of Friday.

"According to legislation we just found out right before school that every student has to have a distance learning plan that is aligned to their Individualized Education Plan, so we have to take the current plan for students with disabilities and we have to let parents know what we can do as far as implementing that plan via distance learning as much as practical," PSUSD Executive Director of Student Support Services, Anne Kalisek said.

The district was backlogged as they played catch-up to assess hundreds of students.

Meanwhile, Romig said she would like to see more options even if that meant allowing parents and students to opt for in-person instruction with proper safety measures.

"That’s public health, we are not allowed to do in-person instruction. It is not something we can do, we want to do that especially when we are able to bring students back. We've looked at do we need to brings special needs students back first?" said Kalisek.