5 ways to remotely engage families of students in special education

Speaking with family, friends, and former colleagues these past few months, I have heard the same themes from caregivers with school-age children: they struggle to find time to work with their child and access materials, are confused by the amount and/or content of material, cannot get their student to do independent work, and feel like they are teaching alone. To help address these concerns, below is a framework to better support your students’ caregiver when in-person learning is not available.

1. Prioritize family connection

As a teacher, I must admit that while I have made meaningful connections with almost all of my students in one way or another, I can count on two hands the families with whom I truly created a significant relationship. There are a lot of caregivers I only saw at IEPs and conferences. We can change our mindset to first connect with caregivers, as they are the gatekeepers of their children’s at-home learning and an integral part of the remote special education team. Empower caregivers with the idea that while challenging, remote learning is a tremendous way for them to have input in their child’s education. Through frequent virtual caregiver contact, we can discern technology realities, help with problem-solving, and create meaningful instruction together.

2. Help families create an at-home learning environment and routine

Assist families with creating a physical space for doing schoolwork. We must be sensitive to our students’ home environments and cultures in order to create the best work space for the individual student. This article discusses the basics of creating schedules for children with disabilities. It would be a helpful resource to share and then you could brainstorm together how to create appropriate home learning schedules for their child.

Note: Please keep in mind that creating the schedule should be an inclusive effort between the special education staff, the student, and the family. You can share what works for the student at school, the family can share what works for the student at home, and the student can give preferences and insight into preferred activities. Then, the case manager should create at least the first schedule before teaching families how to continue.

3. Offer education for families

Families can love their child more than anything in the world and yet not have the skills of a special education team. Once you have created a positive relationship with a caregiver, you can determine what kind of information they need to be more successful with learning at home. This type of information can be overwhelming for families who are juggling many things and feel they do not have time to learn something new, so it can be helpful to create learning materials they can explore on their own time. By learning a few specific special education classroom tips and techniques, caregivers will see more on-task behavior and happier students.

4. Encourage tips for independent work

As educators, we know how hard it is for some students to work independently even with a multitude of supports in our special education classrooms. Some of our students with high support needs may not be able to access work at all independently right now, but it can still be our end goal. Below are ideas to translate some classroom special education supports to the home environment:

• Remind parents that students may need very short independent work sessions followed by rewards or preferred activities, shown in their written or visual schedule.
• Prioritize teaching organizational skills, such as writing assignments in an agenda.
• Make sure students have access to assistive technology they use at school to be more independent, such as iPads with communication applications or simple visual communication boards.

5. Facilitate connections between families of students with disabilities

The pandemic has made it difficult or impossible for many families to participate in their community like before and has isolated many in their homes. Social connection is important for everyone’s mental health. Reassure families that remote learning is hard and lonely for other families as well. It may help families if they connect with others through local or state groups for caregivers of students with specific disabilities or special needs in general. It can also help families connect with community mental health and disability resources or outside agencies that can sometimes provide assistance.

While remote learning cannot replace our special education classrooms, supporting families will help our students learn and grow. The difficult part of implementing these ideas will be continuing to consistently connect with families in order to see what is working and what is not. We understand how flexible we need to be with our classrooms and make a million small changes daily; now we must help caregivers to make these changes at home.

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