HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — As the discussion heats up over whether to return to schools for in-person education this fall amid the pandemic, parents of students with special needs are concerned about resources for remote learning.
A Houston County woman described her remote learning experience with her non-verbal child with autism as being "a complete bust" "depressing" and "over-whelming" on our Facebook page.
Houston County Schools' director of student services, Jenny Millward, says she wants to help families like hers feel at ease with their resources for special education students.
"We were really excited to be able to provide parent training as well, we also developed quite extensive lists for every area in special education from social skills to activities of daily living, speech, occupational and physical therapy. Lists of resources and activities that could be easily implemented at home," Millward said.
They gathered feedback from parent surveys on ways to improve remote learning in the fall with specialized help.
"We were able to incorporate the sign language interpreters, the educational interpreters into their lessons and those teachers gave those interpreters access. With our non-verbal students, it involved a lot of collaboration with the speech/language pathologists with the teacher and the parent, and so we have been trying a lot of different avenues in combining all those professionals to be able to meet the needs of those kids," she said.
Every special education student has a case manager they can reach out to for help.
With the district offering in-person and remote learning in the fall, Millward says they'll meet with each family to come up with the best instructional plan.
"We certainly encourage them to reach out to their case manager so that we can immediately respond and work with them and collaborate on the best plan for their student," Millward said.
RELATED HEADLINES