By Meredith Keedy-Merk, Senior Associate
Superintendents, school administrators, and local health officials are working feverishly to determine the safest instructional model for school districts after the COVID-19 closures. Although many details remain uncertain, school officials need to cautiously think through next steps if schools are to reopen successfully. This includes increased health and hygiene measures, smaller class sizes, staggered or adjusted calendars, revised attendance policies, and continuous learning plans in response to new cases of COVID-19 within the school. Alongside supporting district and school plans, special education directors have the added responsibility of preparing special educators and families for what school reopening may look like for their students with significant intellectual disabilities.
Special education directors must prepare educators, students, parents, paraprofessionals, and related service staff for a range of instructional models—including virtual, in-person, or hybrid—for the 2020–2021 school year. Flexible instructional models will help mitigate the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak within school communities, while also supporting students who have underlying health conditions or are medically fragile.
Special education directors must be flexible, but also intentional in providing a free and appropriate education for students with significant intellectual disabilities. Considerations and planning must take place in the following essential areas: parent and family communication and engagement, student schedule development, and collaboration with colleagues. The following tables highlight considerations to guide the planning process:
Parent and Family Communication
In order to fully support students, there must be clear, concise, and positive communication with families, for both virtual and in-person instruction. Consider the following best practices for communication with families:
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Virtual Instruction
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In-Person Instruction
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Who is available in the home to assist with schoolwork, and when/for how long? Consider the roles of parents/guardians, older siblings, babysitters/nannies, etc. Are those individuals also trying to work while supporting student instruction and schoolwork?
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How will you connect with parents/guardians, factoring in limitations to in-person meetings? (E.g. parent phone calls, emails, newsletters, video chat)
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How will the virtual instructional schedule support parents/guardians as they return to work or continue an in-home work schedule?
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How often will you need to connect with each family? (E.g., daily, weekly, biweekly)
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What devices and assistive technologies are available for the student within the home environment? How will the school district ensure that students have access to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC)? What training and information is needed for the family to support their child’s instruction?
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How will you build parent/guardian communication into your daily and weekly schedule? How can your communication be streamlined with the communication from related services personnel and general educators to reduce information overload?
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What are the communication preferences between the family, educators, and related services personnel?
- Format—email, text, phone, video chat, etc.
- Frequency—daily, weekly, biweekly, etc.
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How will you share classroom COVID-19 safety practices with families?
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What considerations need to be made to accommodate a family’s native language? Will an interpreter be needed to support communication access with the family?
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Due to COVID-19 safety concerns, how will Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings be held? (E.g., in person with social distancing, or virtually?) How will you survey families to determine their level of comfort?
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Student Schedules
Determining a student schedule allows all professionals to support the student, while ensuring all academic, life skills, and transition skills are addressed fully within the curriculum. Consider the following for both virtual and in-person instruction:
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Virtual Instruction
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In-Person Instruction
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Who is available in the home to assist the student with schoolwork, and when/for how long? How will paraprofessionals support virtual instruction?
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How will you balance academic activities, social emotional learning, related services, and opportunities to generalize the skills in practice?
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Where will you post the student schedule on a virtual platform? Will you also need to provide laminated paper copies, including visual supports?
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What related services will the student be receiving? How can you embed the related service goals into daily instruction?
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How will you share the student’s daily agenda, weekly schedule, and task-related plans such as first/then boards?
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How will you balance whole group instruction, time with teacher, small group instruction, and independent practice?
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How will the schedule both accommodate and inform families of the student’s tasks and activities? Will the schedule need to be modeled for parents/guardians through a virtual platform?
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Who will the student be working with during small group instruction? How will you balance the student’s time between teachers, paraprofessionals, related service providers, and general educators?
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When will the student connect with their teacher of record, related services providers, and general education teachers?
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Where will you post the student’s schedule?
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How will social and emotional learning be embedded within the student’s schedule?
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How will the schedule be shared among all staff working with the student?
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If a change arises in the student’s schedule, how will you inform the student and family?
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In what ways will you address any regression that occurred during COVID-19 school closures?
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If a student is unable to complete a task on the agenda, how will this be communicated with the educator?
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How will you embed additional COVID-19 hygiene procedures within the schedule?
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Collaboration with Colleagues
Collaboration with colleagues is essential to support student learning and ensure all aspects of the student’s schedule are addressed. Consider the following for both virtual and in-person instruction:
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Virtual Instruction
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In-Person Instruction
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What virtual platform will you use to collaborate? (E.g., video chat, phone call, email)
How often will you meet with general educators, related service personnel, school leaders, and paraprofessionals? (E.g., daily, weekly, biweekly)
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How often will you meet with general educators, related service personnel, school leaders, and paraprofessionals? (E.g., daily, weekly, biweekly)
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What will be the focus and desired outcomes of virtual collaborative meetings? (E.g., curriculum maps, curriculum planning, curriculum modifications, instructional strategies, behavior modifications, etc.)
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What will be the focus and desired outcomes of collaborative meetings? (E.g., curriculum maps, curriculum planning, curriculum modifications, instructional strategies, behavior modifications, etc.)
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Where will you store the meeting agendas for easy access? Who will be responsible for updating the agenda?
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Where will you store the meeting agendas for easy access? Who will be responsible for updating the agenda?
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How will you address outstanding agenda items?
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How will you address outstanding agenda items?
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In what ways can you integrate the provision of related services during instruction? (E.g., how can the speech language pathologist support a reading lesson?)
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How can related services staff support small groups while practicing social distancing guidelines?
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Who will be responsible for collecting student data? Where will the data be stored for all professionals to access?
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How will you maintain social distancing during meetings? Will face coverings be required?
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About the Author
Meredith Keedy-Merk is a Senior Associate and Special Education Subject Matter Expert at Public Consulting Group (PCG) and the Director of Indiana’s Project SUCCESS. Project SUCCESS is a resource center developed and managed by PCG in collaboration with the Indiana Department of Education to support higher academic achievement for students with disabilities (https://projectsuccessindiana.com).
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