Parents with special needs children prepare for virtual learning

Many parents are dealing with a new reality this school year, distance learning.

Parents with kids who have special needs will have to make the biggest adjustments.

Parents are dealing with a new reality this school year - distance learning.

Especially those who have children with special needs.

Wtva's sydney darden joins us live in the studio with how these parents are adapting.

Sydney?

According to the tupelo school district of special education, about 14 percent of the district's students are in a special needs program.

This includes things like speech therapy, occupational therapy, children with autism, and more... many of them will be distance learning this year.

I spoke with one mother about some of the challenges she might face.

It's a big year lora gipson's three children noah, elijah and michaela.

Monday, they'll start their first day of school distance learning from home.

Sot lora gipson, parent- "i really think this will be the best option for them."

Noah and elijah both have a form of non verbal autism, while elijah also suffers from upper respiratory problems. sot- "with covid being an unknown, i don't know how that would affect him.

If it would be more severe.

So to keep everyone safe, they will do all of their special ed courses 100% online.

A change gipson says comes with its owns set of challenges sot- "it's a little overwhelming but the school seems to have a good plan in place."

Part of the plan involves bringing as much of the classroom to the kitchen table as possible.

Sot-"i've blocked off our dining room which is not an area that i have really let them in a lot.

They recognize the chromebook as being from school and everyone has kind of looked over them and picked at it because they have looked at them before.

And leaning on the school for extra support when needed.

Sot- "i spoke with elijah's teacher over at milam and she said she should get a camera that's on her so that he can be able to see the class while she's teaching."

Director of special education for the tupelo school district genevieve mcalpin says teaching special needs kids from home isn't a one size fits all solution.

Sot genevieve mcalpin, director of special education, tupelo school district- "we have a very large curriculum depending on what the child's different deficit areas are."

But she says teacher will do their best to make the transition from classroom to coffee table as easy as possible with all the concerns about school activities and