Whether your role is in teaching, leading, or counselling, you have likely been faced with the question of how to support students with diverse learning needs (SEND) during online learning. In 2020, all of us instantly had to become experts in an area we never trained in, fumbling through the dark to pave a new path through the unknown.
Although we all did our best with a stressful situation, it quickly became apparent that some students were falling behind due to the very nature of digital learning. Sadly, some of our students were impacted more than others.
As a current school counsellor and as a mum of an autistic son, helping our school find ways to connect with all students during online learning was my top priority. This was no easy task. Outside of the charge of ensuring no child joined the Covid cohort of students losing prior academic gains, a pressing issue came to the forefront when many schools realized their digital learning plans were not one-size-fits-all.
“Stories of students and parents giving up on school altogether were rampant.”
Whether synchronous or asynchronous, accommodations that were in place face-to-face simply couldn’t always fit into the new learning mould. Stories of students and parents giving up on school altogether were rampant on social media and on the nightly news. Two common themes emerged from the frustrated voices regarding what was missing: support and connection, especially when it comes to neurodivergent learners.
Because we’ve had nearly two years to reflect on our policies and practices surrounding digital learning, we are constantly evolving. Experts have weighed in on what to do about the digital divide that is creating an even larger gap for some of our students. Prioritizing the core issue of student wellbeing is key. As Prothero and Sparks (2020) explain:
“It’s tempting to put students’ social, emotional, and mental well-being on the back burner as schools scramble to make up for lost learning and navigate the tough logistical and political challenges of safely opening school buildings. But ignoring social emotional learning could be a recipe for disaster. The fact is: Children can’t process and retain new information if their brains are overwhelmed with anxiety.”
“It’s tempting to put students’ social, emotional, and mental well-being on the back burner.”
What might come across as an emerging learning need may in fact be rooted in an unmet emotional need.
Nearly all students with neurodevelopmental disorders also exhibit impairments in executive functioning measurements (Crisci, Caviola, Cardillo, & Mammarella, 2021). This includes functions like cognitive flexibility, or the ability to switch between tasks to adjust to changed priorities, and replacing information no longer needed in the brain with newly learned information.
Those two functions alone are at the heart of what we have asked our students to do while learning online. It is no wonder why many of our students struggled with a sense of wellbeing while learning how to learn in a new way.
“It would be a near impossibility to escape the pandemic unchanged.”
Covid has caused an increase in anxiety globally among children. A 2021 meta-analysis found the global prevalence of depression and anxiety among youth has doubled when compared to pre-pandemic estimates (Racine et al., 2021). One doesn’t need to read the statistics to know this to be true. It would be a near impossibility to escape the pandemic unchanged. As educators, we see this in our students as well as in the mirror.
So, what then can be done to reverse this trend? Because connection and support are the rallying cry of parents, students, and teachers everywhere, perhaps that is the direction to go. Thankfully, an abundance of new research is on the horizon in this area. While most schools have reopened their doors to in-person learning, we want to be prepared to fully support all learners if a campus closure occurs in the future. It is important to discuss differentiation strategies to support all types of learners in the digital classroom.
Vislosky and Hunziker (2021) offer four cornerstones of effective online learning for students with disabilities, based on research findings:
- Professional development and instructional support
- Accessibility
- Family engagement
- Instructional strategies to support personalization
Some of the suggestions within these cornerstones include practising empathy to accommodate the different learning styles in your classroom, involving students in creating an optimal learning environment by encouraging voice and choice, and using a Design Thinking approach in instructional planning. Design Thinking helps educators tackle problems by redefining them and creating innovative solutions. Each of the cornerstones addresses the need teachers and students have for support and connection.
One specific way schools can address the need for connection is with a strategy known as relationship mapping. It comes from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education and is a way for schools to ensure every child in the building is known by at least one adult. Connection requires intention and does not always happen spontaneously. When intentional relationship building becomes a part of the ethos of a school, everyone’s wellness improves. Both a virtual and in-person relationship mapping support guide is available for educators to download for free.
“Flexibility must be at the heart of all decisions, inside and outside of the virtual classroom.”
An excellent resource we used during a recent shift to online learning was CloseGap, a digital space for emotional discovery. Our students completed a developmentally appropriate emotional check-in each day and were given self-guided activities tailored to their emotional needs. Their data was then sent to the counsellors so real-time support could be offered. We found many students were more comfortable with this method than they were with approaching counsellors face-to-face while on campus.
When I first began to seek alternative ways to meet every student’s educational and social-emotional needs during the pandemic, I was thrilled to find a nearly 40-page document created by RespectAbility, titled “Virtual Education and Students with Disabilities Resource Guide.” It helped save our team time during the planning process, as there were many websites and apps listed in the guide we could immediately put into practice.
What has been cannot always be. Flexibility must be at the heart of all decisions, inside and outside of the virtual classroom. I saw the greatest growth in my son and in my students when they were offered a variety of options for academic and emotional growth. When teachers are flexible in their approach to trying new accommodations for all types of learners in their classroom, they may begin to see a greater willingness to participate.
If something within your digital learning plan isn’t working, put together a think tank for fresh ideas. It is imperative to involve all stakeholders, including students, in this movement. Too often, we toss and turn at night trying to come up with a solution that may be living in someone else’s head. Seek support and connection for yourself so you are better prepared to do the same for your students.
This article first appeared in the latest print edition of Wellbeing in International Schools Magazine, out now.