News: Washington Post reported about costs of the pandemic for students with disabilities

How is the pandemic affecting students' education and progress?

On 20 May 2021, Hannah Natanson and Valerie Strauss, with photos by Katherine Frey, recounted stories about four students with disabilities and the effects of the CoVid-19 pandemic on their education. The students about whom they write varied in age from elementary through secondary grades; their disabilities include autism, hearing impairment, and other health impairment.

The article recounted parents' concerns about their childen not receiving mandated services and sliding farther behind their peers in academic and social competence. The reporters included opinions of some experts as well as observations by the students' parents.

Although the students all apparently live in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area, Ms. Natanson and Ms. Strauss used the children's stories to report about national issues. Most of the reporting is devoted to human interest aspects of the story, but the authors also discussed shortfalls in federal funding for special education and the shortage of qualified special education teachers.

Read the article at https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/05/20/students-disabilities-virtual-learning-failure/.

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