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Children and COVID-19 Research Library

UNICEF Innocenti's curated library of COVID-19 + Children research

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Parents' competence, autonomy, and relatedness in supporting children with special educational needs in emergency remote teaching during COVID-19 lockdown

AUTHOR(S)
Kaisa Pihlainen; Serja Turunen; Anitta Melasalmi (et al.)

Published: December 2022   Journal: European Journal of Special Needs Education
Actions to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as emergency remote teaching (ERT), affected the lives of school children, their parents, and schooling in spring 2020. Rapid changes in routines due to lockdown and ERT were challenging, especially for many children with special needs (SEN). This article focuses on parents’ perspectives regarding their basic psychological needs, i.e. competence, autonomy, and relatedness, in relation to the schooling of their children with SEN. Questionnaire data consisted of the views of 120 parents who described 179 resources and 151 challenges concerning their basic psychological needs during ERT of their children. Data were analysed following the principles of theoretical categorising.
Remote graphic-based teaching for pupils with visual impairments: understanding current practices and co-designing an accessible tool with special education teachers

AUTHOR(S)
Kaixing Zhao; Julie Mulet; Clara Sorita (et al.)

Published: December 2022   Journal: Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
The lockdown period related to the COVID-19 pandemic has had a strong impact on the educational system in general, but more particularly on the special education system. Indeed, in the case of people with visual impairments, the regular tools relying heavily on images and videos were no longer usable. This specific situation highlighted an urgent need to develop tools that are accessible and that can provide solutions for remote teaching with people with VI. However, there is little work on the difficulties that this population encounters when they learn remotely as well as on the current practices of special education teachers. Such a lack of understanding limits the development of remote teaching systems that are adapted. This paper conducted an online survey regarding the practices of 59 professionals giving lessons to pupils with VI, followed by a series of focus groups with special education workers facing teaching issues during the lockdown period. It followed an iterative design process where successive low-fidelity prototypes were designed to drive successive focus groups.
In relation to the relationship: teachers of pupils with multiple disabilities and parents following the COVID-19 pandemic

AUTHOR(S)
Michal Nissim; Orly Ido; Yasser Sanduka (et al.)

Published: November 2022   Journal: European Journal of Special Needs Education
The purpose of this research is to study the relationship between parents of pupils with multiple disabilities and their teachers. This, in order to understand the needs for special education teacher training programmes as these are perceived by the teachers who experienced an abrupt transition to distance learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research combines both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The data was collected through an online questionnaire which included open and closed questions. The closed questions were analysed through frequency mapping and percentages and the open questions were analysed through content analysis method. The participants of the research were 48 teachers from schools for pupils with multiple disabilities who were teaching via distance learning during the 2019–2020 school year at the time of the first lockdown. Thematic analysis resulted in the identification of three main themes: (1) Factors challenging the cooperation between parents and the teachers; (2) supportive needs of parents; (3) Recommendations for training of teachers. There is no doubt that the teachers’ toolbox must encompass two central aspects: First is the inclusion of hands-on digital experience in the teachers’ training. The second includes the incorporation of skills focusing involving parents when teaching via distance learning; that is, training parents how to use the assistive technology during distance learning.
Risk and resilience correlates of reading among adolescents with language-based learning disabilities during COVID-19

AUTHOR(S)
Rebecca A. Marks; Rachel T. Norton; Laura Mesite (et al.)

Published: November 2022   Journal: Reading and Writing
Students with language-based learning disabilities (LBLD) can face elevated socio-emotional well-being challenges in addition to literacy challenges. We examined the prevalence of risk and resilience factors among adolescents with LBLD (N = 93), ages 16–18, and the association with reading performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected at the start and end of the first fully remote academic year of COVID-19 (2020–2021). Participants completed standardized word and text reading measures, as well as self-report surveys of executive functions (EF), and socio-emotional skills associated with resilience (grit, growth mindset, self-management, self-efficacy, and social awareness) or risk (anxiety, depression, COVID-19 related PTSD, and perceived COVID-19 impact). Survey data at the start of the school year (Time 1) captured three underlying factors associated with socioemotional risk, socioemotional resilience, and regulation (i.e., EF).
COVID-19-related facilitators and barriers to in-person learning for children with intellectual and development disabilities

AUTHOR(S)
Liz E. Vestal; Ann M. Schmidt; Nikole L. Dougherty (et al.)

Published: November 2022   Journal: Journal of School Health

Schools provide essential functions for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), but their vulnerability to infection with SARS-CoV-2 are a barrier to in-person learning. This qualitative study aimed to understand how weekly SARS-CoV-2 screening testing of students and staff could best facilitate in-school learning during the pandemic. Thirty-one focus groups were held with school staff and parents of children with IDD to examine the perceptions of COVID-19 during the 2020-2021 school year. Responses were analyzed using a directed thematic content analysis approach.

Early years autism and bilingualism: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of parent perceptions during lockdown

AUTHOR(S)
Sarah Oudet; Katie Howard; Stephanie Durrleman

Published: November 2022   Journal: Autism & Developmental Language Impairments
This study explores how bilingual parents of autistic children made language decisions for their families, how the event of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and subsequent lockdown impacted the communication environment of their households, and whether these experiences affected their language habits. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five bilingual parents of autistic children who lived through lockdown in France. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Demographic and background information was collected using an adapted version of the Questionnaire for Parents of Bilingual Children.
Interpersonal communication between special educational needs teachers and parents of special-needs student during Covid-19 pandemic

AUTHOR(S)
Retno Sulistiyaningsih; Nur Rohmah Hidayatul Qoyyimah; Alifia Damara Nurochim (et al.)

Published: November 2022
The pandemic has had a significant impact on all sectors, especially on education which has a systemic impact. The changing pattern of teaching, learning, and the consequences endured are also a problem, especially in schools that administer inclusive education. This results in a changing pattern of communication between teachers, special-needs students, and parents. The study aims to illustrate the interpersonal communication dynamics inherent between a teacher and a parent as a central figure in the study of courage for special-needs students. The type of method used was a qualitative method with a case study approach. The study included five participants, three with details of special educational needs teachers and two for parents of special-needs students. The study was conducted in a data search phase through observation, documentation, and interviews. To strengthen the results, the focus group discussion included the five participants directly. For data analysis Miles and Huberman method was applied, whereas for data credibility data triangulation was used.
ABRACADABRA literacy instruction for children with Down syndrome via telepractice during COVID-19: a pilot study
Published: November 2022   Journal: British Journal of Educational Psychology

COVID-19 has resulted in some educators and allied health practitioners transitioning to online delivery of literacy instruction. As far as we are aware, no studies have investigated online delivery of comprehensive literacy instruction for children with Down syndrome. This pilot study explores the efficacy of online delivery of ABRACADABRA (a free literacy web application) for children with Down syndrome, alongside supplementary parent-led shared book reading, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 and schooling of disabled children and youth in Kenya: the locus of education in the disaster risk reduction process

AUTHOR(S)
Theodoto Ressa

Published: November 2022   Journal: Open Journal of Social Sciences
This study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on primary and secondary school-age children with disabilities to assess Kenya’s disaster readiness and the current mitigating measures using the UNDRO/UNDP Disaster Management and Recovery Program framework. The vulnerability analysis of the education system in Kenya reveals gaps in implementing disaster risk reduction (DRR) programs for children and youth with disabilities. Mismanagement of insufficient resources and services (i.e., digital infrastructure and shortage of computer literate educators and government inaction and corruption) showed the extent to which COVID-19 pandemic has undermined the capacity of Kenya’s education system to prepare school-age children with special needs for citizenry responsibilities. Since DRR efforts can overlook or neglect the particular constraints of communities with disabilities within and beyond the education sector, the DRR programs should include education (i.e., physical and virtual learning) to contain the unpredictable and novel pandemics (e.g., COVID-19) and importantly, and include disabled persons and their families in the DRR committees at all administrative levels. This is vital in mitigating factors that predispose disadvantaged children to academic failure and push them to failed adult life on the periphery of society.
Inclusive education with differentiated instruction for children with disabilities: a guidance note
Published: October 2022   Journal: Asian Development Bank
This guidance note explains how policymakers and practitioners can more effectively integrate children with disabilities into mainstream education and give them the individualized support they need. COVID-19 has exacerbated the situation for marginalized children with disabilities who make up around 5% of the global child population but encompass over half of those excluded from schools. Drawing on case studies from the Kyrgyz Republic, the Marshall Islands, and Nepal, this publication shows how adopting a holistic stance and building multistakeholder partnerships can help ensure children with disabilities receive an inclusive, quality education.
Challenges and opportunities of online training for work with children with special needs

AUTHOR(S)
Irena Georgievska; Marija Ristevska; Jasminka Kochoska (et al.)

Published: October 2022   Journal: European Journal of Education and Pedagogy
The trends and changes that have occurred in recent years, as a result of the COVID pandemic and the modernization of education, have led to an increase in the flexibility of the education system and the implementation of technological changes in the educational process itself. That is why the realization of online teaching in primary and secondary schools in the Republic of North Macedonia has started. The organization of online teaching monitoring imposed a change in the paradigm of the pedagogy itself, the organization of teaching, and the ways of working during the whole teaching process. Online teaching was and still is supported by a number of practicums, online training, and education for teachers in order to smoothly implement this type of teaching. This paper examines those perspectives that relate to the specifics of online teaching and its impact on the development of students with disabilities. For that purpose, the views of online teaching are explained, experiences and definitions, and methods for working in online teaching, as well as the characteristics of online teaching. The last point of the paper covers empirical research on teachers and their experiences with distance learning with students with disabilities.
Parent's engagement in the learning needs of learners with Down syndrome in the new normal education

AUTHOR(S)
Jeny Hinggo; Janus Naparan; Genesis Naparan

Published: October 2022   Journal: International Journal of Theory and Application in Elementary and Secondary School Education
This study probed parental engagement in the learning needs of the learners with Down syndrome (DS) in their homes in Zamboanga Sibugay, Philippines, during this new normal education. Parents of a child with DS were the primary participants of this study. Merriam’s case study approach was utilized as a research design. Multiple data sources were considered, such as interview transcripts and observation notes during the actual interview.
The impact of Covid-19 on parents of children with disability: educational needs and challenges

AUTHOR(S)
Ahmad Rababah; Dareen Khlaifat; Faisal Abdelfattah (et al.)

Published: October 2022   Journal: International Journal of Instruction
During the Corona pandemic, parents of children with disabilities experienced unprecedented situations. The aim of this study was to identify the educational needs and challenges which prevented parents from providing adequate support to their children during the outbreak. An online survey was launched on June 4, 2020, to gather information from 638 parents of children with disabilities.
Children with disabilities and distance education: experiences of primary school teachers and parents: Covid-19 lockdown

AUTHOR(S)
Maxine McKay; Lorna McKay

Published: September 2022
This study highlights the experiences of parents of children with disabilities and primary school teachers who taught these children via Distance Education during the COVID-19 Lockdown. The teachers who participated in the study teach children ages 10-14 with varying disabilities. The teachers are from three districts located in Belize (Belize, Orange Walk, and Cayo). The 30 parents were chosen based on recommendations made by the teachers. A phenomenological approach was used as the research method because this approach allowed the researchers to make in -depth analyses and provide thematic descriptions. Research data was collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using the inductive method.
Pivoting to inclusion: leveraging lessons from the COVID-19 crisis for learners with disabilities

AUTHOR(S)
Charlotte Mcclain-Nhlapo; Vuyiswa ; Ruchi Kulbir Singh (et al.)

Institution: The World Bank
Published: August 2022
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic quickly turned into a global health crisis that evoked an education emergency of an unprecedented scale. At the peak of the lockdown, the pandemic caused 180 countries to close schools temporarily, forcing 85 percent of the world’s learners out of school. In parallel, the subsequent pandemic-control measures also drove the global economy to a complete halt, precipitating the multi-dimensional inequalities for marginalized populations. The looming global economic recession is causing the re-direction of government financing to meet competing urgent demands in the health and finance sectors. Consequently, this will have short-, medium- , and long-term effects on education,social protection, and nutrition budgets.
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UNICEF Innocenti's Children and COVID-19 Library is a database collecting research from around the world on COVID-19 and its impacts on children and adolescents.

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