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Gabriela M. Rodriguez
ENC 1102-0W96
16 November 2020
Challenges K-12 students and special need students encounter amidst Covid-19
Imagine you are in eighth grade, living in a remote country during the pandemic where

the accessibility of Wi-Fi is limited. The only learning tool you have is a cellphone, but you have

to share it with your other two siblings. As a result, you are not able to attend classes or even do

the homework, putting your academic progress behind. This sounds stressful, but sadly it is the

reality that K-12 students are living. The question here is, how are children going to learn

without having the necessary tools, given the fact that we live in a very advance technological

era. Ever since Covid-19, remote instruction has been the new normalcy for K-12 students and

special need students. The abrupt change has affected both groups of students, including parents

who have had to change their schedules even quit their jobs to assist their children.

The focus of my research paper is to capture the struggles and response towards remote

instruction that both groups of students have encountered, specifically moving the lens towards

special need students, who have been segregated from the discourse. The reason why I chose this

topic is to give the audience an understanding that both groups have a different learning

mechanism and what works for ten students, might not work for the rest. Even though my future

job ties with the medial field, I felt the need to talk about this vivid issue, which seems to be

affecting students learning. During such hard times, thousands of families have opted for remote

learning for safety purposes yet have encountered a ton of issues. This is recursive situation,

where the future professionals of this generation are in danger of not being able to take full

advantage of education. To have a better understanding of the educational crisis, I chose three
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(challenges) perspectives that are going to be discussed throughout the research paper. These are

availability of technological tools, importance of sponsors and parental involvement.

Teachers, students, and parents have struggled to adapt and understand how learning

online modules work. To understand better the problem, the source USA Facts with the help of

National Center for Education Statistics did a survey to various families of all ethnicities and

found out that “34% reported not having internet because they were unable to afford it, 4%

because they did not have a home computer, and 4% because an internet connection was not

available in their area” (2020). As a result, 42% students affront a technological and educational

barrier. If that is not alarming enough, according to Boston Consulting Group in “Connect All

Students: How States and Schools Districts Can Close the Digital Divide” mention that back in

2017, before the pandemic, “more than 40% of teachers in Title 1” where not assigning online

assignments (2020). The lack of computer skills is detrimental for students around the country.

Teachers not being able to teach that 42% of students is not only a disadvantege, but students

loose valuable time and skills that will prepare them for college.

The article of Nydia Bauza “Maestra asiste a sus estudiantes desde su carro en

Aguadilla”; which translates to “Teacher imparts instruction from her car in the county of

Aguadilla”; is an example that there is still hope. And is that Darybel Acevedo who is from

Puerto Rico, teaches fifth grade and has thirty students from which only nineteen students have

access to internt. Under such frustration she drives to some of her students homes to explain the

assigment provided for that day’s lecture and also prints copies for the weeks material and hands

it to the parents. This article demonstrates the importance of Sponsors, which is explained by the

author Deborah Brandt. The idea behind it is that, the relationship that a sponsor (teacher) and

sponsored (student) have can be a mutualistic relationship where the sponsor provides innovative
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tools or even exploits the sponsored. Throughout the reading “Sponsors of Literacy”, Brandt

mentions that Sponsors can help in the political, economic, and educational field. Teachers are

vital for a student academic development because they know where and what does the student

struggles with and prepares them for the future.

The argument for my research paper is “Covid-19 has impacted K-12 education all over

the states, where students have found remote instruction to be an obstacle that has affected their

access to education, primarily students with disabilities”. To expand the last part of the

argument, is fundamental to mention another group that has suffered the challenges of remote

instruction, which are special need students, and as a result so have their parents. Due to the

pandemic parents have gain multiple roles such as becoming teachers, speech therapists,

occupational therapists, and so much more. It is overwhelming for parents because they are not

professionals in the field, they are learning how to accommodate their home to a learning space

and at the same time attend all the needs their children require. Now to understand the

educational barrier special need students are going through, I am going to explain what the IDEA

is and what students follow under what is called “special need students” also called “exceptional

students”; both can be used interchangeably.

The IDEA was established in 1975 and was originally named “Education of Handicapped

Children Act” but in 1990 it was changed to what is now called “Individuals with Disability

Education Act”. The importance behind this act is to provide a free public education to children

who have disabilities to receive special learning education which accommodates their needs.

Students with disabilities are now called “special need students” or “exceptional students” which

include those diagnosed with Autism, Deaf blindness, Deafness, Emotional Disturbance, etc.

(example of logos). Exceptional students or special need students are those that fall under the
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program of ESE (Exceptional Student Education). Before being diagnosed they follow numerous

testing like interviews, observations and test that will challenge their learning strengths,

problems, and needs. Specialists such as psychologist, teachers, and therapist help each student

with their disability progress to succeed in and after school. That leads me to the second

perspective, the importance of Sponsors.

Since Covid-19 hit schools, teachers have been challenged to act fast and improvise

towards remote instruction. It has been difficult for teachers, because even though they know

well their curriculum, they have had to adapt everything virtually. Teachers are historians,

mathematicians, scientists, writers, counselors, mentors, etc., indeed they hold one of the most

important jobs in the world, have been struggling too. Katie Reily a columnist for Times

magazine, interviewed numerous teachers to view intense the impact of the pandemic has been

for them. One of the stories that sticked out was Jessyca Mathews story, a teacher from Michigan

who mentioned that one of the biggest challenges is dealing with students that have lost family

members, “there’s a lot of trauma we are not addressing”(2020). Even though remote instruction

is the safest option, it has not been easy for teachers, nor students. Part of the ease of the

transition to remote instruction is parental involvement.

One of the interviews I made, was to Enid Lopez a mother of three who lives in Puerto

Rico. Her youngest child has a low level of Autism and receives speech therapy, has suffered the

impact of remote learning. Before conducting the interview, I prepared a series of questions not

only to understand the level of crisis showed in the Education System for special need students,

but how parents have adapted to this new system, if there has been any type of teamwork with

specialist in the field and if their children have showed positive or negative progress. Ever since

the pandemic hit, Lopez had to quit her job and assume multiple roles just like Caren, Mark’s
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mom who was mention at the beginning of the reading. Her experience has been rough because

schools in Puerto Rico did not used computers as a learning tool, so she had to create a time

schedule for each week in order for her three sons to be able to complete their assignments.

Lopez says that “ I have made great improvement with my son’s speech therapy because

two days a week I facetime his therapist for her to evaluate his progress” (2020). As mentioned

by Enid her son’s therapist sends her via email a schedule of tasks and exercises to keep him

motivated and continuously using his motor ability as well as five senses. It has been very

challenging for her (Lopez) because her other two sons also require attention and help with their

homework as well as quality time. Because of this Enid and her husband Antonio had made a

schedule where each week they divide themselves between their three sons and do a following

up meeting of what each needs to prepare for. One of the things mentioned by Enid which really

impacted me were, “I feel that schools should open a space for discourse where parents could

virtually meet and with the help of a therapist cope with all the economic agony, frustration and

stress Covid-19 has brought” (2020). This was a valid point that I would like to expand in my

research paper as a subtopic of how parent directly and indirectly have been affected. The

response and improvement that Lopez and her husband have made with their children has been

amazing, but unfortunately is not the same for all families.

Madison Martin’s article “Educational barriers heightened for exceptional students

during Covid-19 Pandemic” she interviews various parents, one of them being Katie Sacra

whose son has deaf blindness is frustrated with how schools and the IDEA have been managing

Covid-19, because this year was supposed to be when her son transitioned out of public school.

And that the frustration comes from their children not learning and that all the progress that

students have done at school starts to fade away if it is not constantly practiced. Drastically
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changing the routine of a special need children impacts their ability to function. In other words,

the routines students had in school helped them transition to the next day, without any surprises.

Sacra’s concern about how schools are going to accommodate the children’s needs amid

to the pandemic is alarming where she explains, “We’ve created this entire communication

system for him this entire communication approach. But all of it is tactile for him” (Martin). This

is a strategical move made by Martin, that provides evidence of the struggle’s parents are dealing

with and it adds to the credibility of her interview. As the interview continues Martin shifts to

talking about statistics where she mentions “…the school district serves over 45,000 students.

Within that number, 6,489 students in the district have a disability”. Highlighting this type

information not only emphasizes the crisis in the Department of Education but states the

problem.

The reading “Intertextuality and the Discourse Community” by James Porter, mentions

how a group of people that share a common interest have their own discourse community, which

has a certain language, and genre. This supports Martin’s article, because it explains why she

paid attention in adding and defining what IDEA (Individuals with Disability Education Act) and

IPEA (Individualized Education Program). This decision of her was a wise strategy, because

since the article was going to be accessible to a general audience, it meant that not every reader

is going to understand the terminology used as well as the purpose both act and program imply.

The mission behind the argument of my research paper is to explain to the readers the

crisis we are having in the Department of Education and the challenges students and special need

students affront due to Covid-19. Research and interviews still need to be conducted because

schools have never operated under a pandemic. I believe that times like this should be a good

opportunity to enforce any field, like the Department of Education, to have a plan for future
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pandemics. For teachers and students to sympathize with each other, and for parents to get

involved.
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Works Cited

Bauza, Nydia. “Maestra Asiste a Sus Estudiantes Desde Su Carro En Aguadilla.” Primera Hora,

28 Sept. 2020, www.primerahora.com/noticias/puerto-rico/notas/maestra-asiste-a-sus-

estudiantes-desde-su-carro-en-aguadilla/.

Brandt, Deborah. “Sponsors of Literacy.” CCC, vol. 49, no. 2, 1998, pp. 165- 185.

Lopez, Elia E. Interview. Zoom. October 27, 2020.

Martin, Madison. “Educational Barriers Heightened for Special Needs Students during COVID

19 Pandemic.” Https://Www.wmbfnews.com, 14 Aug.

2020, https://www.wmbfnews.com/2020/08/13/educational-barriers-heightened-special-needs-

students-during-covid-pandemic/

Musulin, Kristin. “30% Of K-12 Students Lack at-Home Internet, Devices: BCG.” Smart Cities

Dive, 4 Nov. 2020, www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/30-of-k-12-students-lack-at-home-internet-

devices-bcg/588305/.

Porter, James E. “Intertextuality and the Discourse Community.” Rhetoric Review 5.1 (1986).

34-47

Reilly, Katie. “What It's Like to Be a Teacher During Coronavirus Pandemic.” Time, Time, 26

Aug. 2020, time.com/5883384/teachers-coronavirus/.

USAFacts. “More than 9 Million Children Lack Internet Access at Home for Online Learning.”
USAFacts, USAFacts, 19 Oct. 2020, usafacts.org/articles/internet-access-students-at-home/.
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