All children are special. However, special needs children are referred to so because of their needs. I am mother to a neuro-typical and special needs child, and the past two years have been tough to say the least. When we had a small window for kids to get back to school, pollution reared its ugly head and robbed us of those days as well.
Put together, it has been an intensely long time for kids to stay at home. It is unnatural as well – physically and mentally. This, in turn, affects the caregivers of the children. I would like to elaborate a few points here specifically pertaining to special needs kids.
The Human Connect: Most special needs children are very tactile and work well with touch (when socially safe, of course) and expressions. They can gauge a lot from people’s faces, and this is really tough on screen.
Social Interaction: This is very challenging for special needs kids. The little opportunity they have in physical school set-up is taken away when the school is online. I remember my son’s classmate telling me during the first week back in physical school how happy he was when my child went up to him for a hug.
Meeting With Peers: Children learn a lot from their peers and online school just does not cut it. Mannerisms, habits and general behaviours can be imitated in a good way when a special needs child is not conscious of it.
Routine: Special needs kids crave and thrive on routine. With online school, this is next to impossible. Even a simple disruption like power cut can mess with their minds and it is equally tough for the teacher and the parent to bring them back to the “class”.
Distractions: Online school comes with easy distractions. My son constantly opens new tabs to check out YouTube videos (yeah, a clever boy)… but it’s a challenge to constantly monitor his laptop usage.
I would also urge our administrators to do something about the pollution that wreaks havoc every year in the NCR, so we do not have to face the dreaded “pollution holidays” again.
I do hope someone is listening to us…
Upasana Mahtani Luthra is the Director of events and mom influencer program GurgaonMoms. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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