As many who regularly read my posts already know, I have been filling in for my former colleagues at Barrie North CI when needed during this 2020-21 school year, first in person, and about a month ago, a day in front of the screen as virtual supply. With the province closing the school's doors in April, forcing Ontario's students to spend 4-5 hours a day in front of their computer screens, the struggle for many families has become Mr Ford's 800 lb gorilla as a massive disruption of normalcy has significantly increased a wide variety of stresses. "Joe Public", in general, is not as aware that there are a small number of students whose school transports have never stopped running ... the province's Special Education students.
When I retired back in January of 2020, I fully anticipated being beckoned off my rocker to assist my former colleagues in a supply role, and TBH, I welcomed the opportunity to maintain relationships with students and staff alike that were fostered during my short time spent at BNC. Let's set the record straight ... I LOVE being retired, but this pandemic has poignantly revealed how much of a social animal I am, an "itch" that is soothed by a supply day here or there. When Ontario's schools were shuttered, I erroneously assumed that the calls to assist would cease. After all, if teachers were educating the masses from their own home offices, they wouldn't need any old fart like me to fill in for them would they? While the calls are not coming regularly, they are coming none the less, with the most recent one being in a Life Skills class, and I was promptly reminded just how profound the effects of this pandemic are on our most vulnerable students.
If your experience with students in our province's Special Education classrooms is limited to what you see on news reports or documentaries, you're in a for a bit of a shock with the following words. You first need to understand that students who have been diagnosed with learning issues fall into 4 system-generated categories right now:
1) Students with learning disabilities, developmental delays, self-care obstacles and behaviour abnormalities with a documented history of violence are segregated into self-contained classrooms called ASD (or Autism Spectrum Disorder) classes. I spent a year co-leading the charge in an ASD classroom, leading to the firm belief that all teacher training should include experiences like it. These students are legally entitled to education until they are 21 years old and don't earn a Secondary School Certificate.
2) Students with the same level of impairment without a documented history of violence are segregated into self-contained classrooms called Life Skills, and are generally considered to have just as many learning issues as ASD class students, but are less of a danger to staff and peers. This doesn't mean they don't lash out when upset, they just don't have a documented history of said violence. There are often two variations of these classes in many of Ontario's system, separated along the lines of deportment and self-control. These students are also entitled to education until 21 and no certificate.
3) Students with significant learning impairment but more or less self sufficient are in segregated classrooms called Learning Centers, often for a half day then integrated in appropriate mainstream options where available. These students might be recognizable as having some developmental delays with the end goal being a Learning Certificate, or a reduced credit load for their career. They typically remain in school for 5 years but are legally entitled to stay until 21.
4) Students with Learning Disabilities that require Special Education resources to be successful, but are a part of the regular stream of students, have the ability to earn a full OSSD or a Certificate, a decision that the family makes in cooperation with their Special Education Resource Teacher or SERT. You wouldn't know these students are any different from others unless you were privy to their OSR or Ontario Student Record.
heightened anxiety of the staff who can't avoid close contact situations, and you have a proverbial powder-keg with a smoking fuse. Try putting yourself into the shoes of a child with special needs ... everyone is wearing masks making them look very different; sometimes the staff have to wear PPE that looks pretty strange; everyone has to stay as far apart as possible; students with sensory issues have to wear masks all day that make them very uncomfortable. The list is very, very long. When the students are able to hold themselves together emotionally, the classroom functions close to "normal" with reinforcement of previous learning occurring with regularity, but if even one of the students experiences difficulties, it more often than not leads to the others being put off, creating an environment that is on edge and not conducive to learning. The classroom I assisted in recently had one of those days, and the edge was palpable all day long.
The whole idea of the moniker Life Skills is exactly what you'd suspect. The goal is to teach and reinforce skills required for a life of dignity, happiness and satisfaction. No one expects these kids to be able to live independent lives of self-sufficiency, but that doesn't mean that they can't learn to help themselves with basic hygiene, simple cooking, and even maintenance level cleaning. Depending on the severity of their afflictions, basic budgeting is possible, but supervision will always be present. The issue for the school system is that learning of skills like these is a slow process that requires a great deal of patience and persistence on the part of the education workers, and if the conditions of the day aren't in line with the needed learning conditions, the process is extended exponentially. That very phenomenon is the bane of Life Skills workers right now since the conditions created by this pandemic significantly disrupt the normalcy, impairing the learning through persistent behavioural outburst borne out of the palpable anxiety of constantly changing parameters. This creates intense confusion in the students, leading to emotional outbursts that can often result in harm to their caregivers, the educational workers. While subbing that day, I became aware of two regular staff being off indefinitely with injuries sustained while on the job, a fact that left tugged at the strings of my heart.
Things are not "normal" in education these days, and it may take more than a simple return to face to face instruction to repair the damages created by this pandemic. What I am astutely aware of though, is that my fellow education workers are, as always, ready and willing to take on the challenge with compassion, caring, commitment and character, but are often left out of the discussions surrounding essential workers, despite willingly putting themselves at risk both in normal times and this pandemic.
I urge you all to join me in celebrating their incredible sense of selflessness.
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