How children with special needs and their parents are navigating the lockdown

These days, Ravinder Kumar Srivastav is having a tough time explaining to his 14-year-old son, a student of Class 9 at a municipality school in Jahangirpuri, why his school is not opening, why the streets are empty, and why he is forced to stay at home.

“I have tried hard to tell him about the coronavirus, but my son is hearing impaired and since I do not know the sign language, I cannot communicate properly,” says Srivastav. “He is getting restless and frustrated. He always felt better at school, where he communicated well with his special educator. I wish I had learnt sign language, it would have helped me calm him during these tense times.”

While parents and children across the country prepare for a mass experiment in homeschooling and online learning, these are challenging times for parents of children with special needs. The closure of schools means their children are missing not just their studies, but also therapies.

“Lockdown is a difficult period for deaf children as most of them cannot communicate even with their parents, leading to strife within the family. I get 20 calls a day from the parents of hearing-impaired children who find it hard to it deal with them. Most parents do not know the sign language, and they are now regretting not having learnt it,” says Ruma Roka, founder Noida Deaf Society, who runs a primary school for the hearing impaired in Noida. “While we are trying to send them video lessons in Indian sign language, the problem is most children at our school are from economically weaker sections and do not have access to good smartphones, computers or broadband connection at home.”

“The lockdown and the prolonged disruption of education would leave a negative effect on the education and emotional growth of deaf children,” says A S Narayanan, President, National Association of the Deaf. “The government should involve Indian sign language experts in its awareness programme and official communication about coronavirus”.

Many parents of children with neuro-developmental disorders — attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, learning disabilities, cerebral palsy — that require continuous therapies are now having to play both teacher and therapist while they work from home.

Take for example Rashmi Singh and Puneet Kumar whose nine-year old-son suffers from ADHD.

Children with ADHD need to be engaged in various activities, and require supportive therapies.

Rashmi and Punnet are doing the best they can. “It is not easy. He is hyperenergetic and we have to channelise his energy into something creative,” says Rashmi, a nutritionist. “I have never danced in my life, but now I have regular exercise and dance sessions with him,” says Puneet.

Expert says every special child has individual needs—while some need extra time and assignments, others need adaptive special education, special subjects and a range of therapies: occupational, behavioural, speech, among others.

Dr Ranjit R Anand, director, Maxwell Institute, a school for special children in Rohini, says isolation could be a problem if the child isn’t used to it.

“An autistic child can have severe mood swings and they need special attention. While parents can help with physical exercises and some therapies, other therapies require trained professionals,” says Anand.

“I help my son with speech therapy, but it is not possible to have the necessary infrastructure at home for other therapies,” says Manoj Chaudhary, who lives in Ghaziabad. His three-year-old son is autistic and requires occupational and speech therapy, among others. “He had shown considerable improvement, but these days he remains very upset.”

The Owl House, a community support centre for families and individuals with special needs on Monday started a helpline to advise families during the coranavirus lockdown. “Most calls so far have been about behavioural issues; the children on the autism spectrum are prone to bursts of anger and self–harm,” says Priya Kataria, instruction and learning design manager, who supervises the helpline. “At times, it becomes difficult for parents to handle the situation. We try to understand the issue, offer advice and tools for dealing with the challenge.”

Dr Shailendra Kumar, a certified Consultant Occupational Therapist and the founder of Child Neuro Rehabilitation (CNR) Clinic, says that effects of social distancing and lockdown on children with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) are as various and broad as the spectrum itself, and missing therapies will delay their next developmental milestone.

The lockdown, he says, is a tricky time for parents of children with special needs, juggling as they are with various responsibilities while working from home. “They should try and involve their kids in various daily tasks which are easy to do and kids can easily understand them through visual prompts, like dusting, vegetable washing, filling water bottles, vegetable segregation, and various small role-playing games,” says Kumar.

Parents should ensure that children with special needs, add Kumar, should avoid excess screen time, i.e. the phone and television. “Increased screen time is associated with a decrease in a neurotransmitter (GABA) which leads to aberrant behaviour. Parents, however, can use video calls with children for short consultations with their special educators and therapists,” says Kumar.