Helping Special Needs Children Adapt to Remote Learning

With the ‘Stay at Home’ compulsion, I am sure many parents might be frustrated as they have to manage kids with different levels of challenges at home. Different children are impacted at a different level; it could be mild, moderate, and severe, or some may even be profoundly impacted. Hence as a parent, we first need to understand the level and needs of our child.

Next, it is most important to change our mindset, as we take it for granted that ‘these kids with challenges cannot manage to learn on an e-learning platform’.  In fact, being an educational psychologist, I have tried and tested online learning with our lovely children and was truly happy to see how beautifully various online training programs work to support these children with challenges and help them develop their knowledge and skills.  With the present generation, I believe that e-learning is much more effective than in-class learning. So, do ensure that even these children get exposure as any other children do.

So, the key to this is a little bit of research on Google to find out what sort of online learning support can be provided for children with special needs at home. One click, and you will see a menu of amazing online learning programs and online therapies too. Then, why do we keep these children from having access to what they deserve and what they need? Make the most of all the available online support like online behavioral therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, etc.

As you manage to identify the needs of your child and give them the experience of online learning support, it will not only help them but even help you to develop the necessary skills as you will be a silent supporter at the back-end. Thus, ultimately it will nurture you as a parent too. And I strongly believe that no one can be a better teacher than a parent.

Being a passionate educational psychologist, I have assured that my team of experts and educators is well equipped and prepared to give the best possible online learning support to these lovely children. And considering the fact that these kids are at home in their comfort zone, we have given them the flexibility of time, which allows the learner to choose any of the available time slots between 9.am to 8.pm. from Sunday to Thursday.

Apart from this, I am sure there might be many hyperactive kids at home, who probably happen to be restless when they are not engaged in any productive activity. The best thing to calm down such a child is to give them enough opportunity to utilize their physical energy, in activities like trampoline jumping, skipping or bouncy ball jumps and make them aware that they have a corner for themselves, where you can lay a mattress and allow them to jump, roll and bounce until their energy is totally drained out. Then, let them drink water and get back to their e-learning desk. This will, in turn, help them to have a better focus while learning. Do look up for online behavioral therapy programs too as they are really helpful and effective.

On the other hand, I would strongly recommend all the parents to utilize this period and well equip themselves by learning through a few online courses that are meant for parents and teachers to help them deal with various challenges that they face while handling their kids at home or helping them to develop their knowledge and skills.