Childhood in a Globalized World

“Children with special education needs (SEN) comprise 10%–20% of total student enrollment, as many as 1 million children in Canada" (Whitley et al., 2021).

 Most of these students require differentiated instruction and accommodations to be able to flourish academically and they may rely on established routines and relationships. These students are susceptible to vulnerability in a multitude of learning environments including: vulnerability to digital access and social and therapeutic services. There is also greater concern with vulnerable children and their attendance at school and the role their families play in their learning, or lack thereof.

Vulnerability via digital access:

Throughout the pandemic, having access to digital technologies has proven to be a significant issue for many families. "Inconsistent access to high-speed internet and sufficient digital devices is a barrier to participation in educational and service-related activities" argues Whitley (2021).

Vulnerability and access to inclusive learning:

Attendance at school                        

It has been concluded that student absenteeism and disengagement throughout the pandemic, has increased in many communities/educational facilities.  

Family roles in learning

"One of the most striking findings in the study was the change in the duration of activities children performed with their families, which is another factor that we think plays an important role in resilience. Despite families stating that one-on-one time duration with their children increased during the lockdown, they contrarily reported a decline in playing, reading, and overall activity durations" (Yesil et al., 2021).

The bolded numbers have a significantly great effect (Yesil et al., 2021)

Although measures such as social isolation have positively impacted the spread of the Covid-19, the closure of schools has lead to various changes in the daily lives of children with disabilities. “It is known that children’s mental health can be heavily impacted and easily overlooked in the context of emergencies and disasters”. Children who receive special education may also experience emotional and behavioral difficulties as the special interventions required for their disability have been interrupted. This means that their development and rehabilitation processes  cannot be supported appropriately.

There is relatively little to know knowledge about the impacts of the COVID-19 on families of children with disabilities. COVID-19 has particularly made it difficult for these families for a variety of reasons, including the closures of schools, the reductions in services, and the additional challenges related to caring for children with disabilities. These challenges may include: attending therapy appointments, receiving respite care, receiving rehabilitation services/supports, and obtaining medical equipment (Arim, Findlay, & Kohen, 2020). All of which may have been amplified during the pandemic.

"All of these are thought to be aggravating factors in neurodevelopmental disorders, and cutting therapeutic pathways is putting strain on parental resources, leading to another source of stress for families" (Arim, Findlay, & Kohen, 2020).

During a recent study, families of children with disabilities were asked a series of questions relating to concerns for their children.

The results of the study found that:

7 in 10 participants were very or extremely concerned with their children’s opportunities to socialize with friends

7 in 10 parents were very or extremely concerned about the amount of screen time their children were engaging in

approximately 6 in 10 parents were very or extremely concerned about loneliness or isolation for their children

This graph demonstrates the research findings of the growing concerns for parents and families of children with disabilities.

Further information regarding this demographic can be found: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/45-28-0001/2020001/article/00066-eng.htm

The global pandemic has been difficult on Canadian families in general however; families of children with disabilities have been disproportionately affected.  Children with disabilities, specifically those of school age, were suddenly left without supports of any kind.

Children with disabilities and their families were negatively impacted in terms of:

Remote learning

Reductions in therapeutic support services

Limited social and economic supports

Remote learning took place in March of 2020 and within this educational shift; Education Assistants and Special Needs Coordinators had disappeared. Parents and caregivers were expected to confront the pressures of teaching and caring for their children, all while juggling full time employment (Lach & Thomson, 2021).

How did your parents experience Covid-19 differently to you? How was their experience different to you or your siblings?

What further assistance and services do you recommend the government provide to support Canadian families, specifically children,  during the pandemic and why?

Many parents chose to keep their kids home-schooled after COVID mandates ended in order to protect them from the discrimination they were experiencing publically and from school. Do you agree that keeping kids at home during their younger years is healthy for their development? Why or why not?

A largely unrepresented group today, especially during the pandemic, is children within/connected to correctional institutions. The two main groups that this entails are children held in correctional institutions after receiving criminal charges and children with parental figures in prison. The usual routine people in correctional facilities followed was completely changed due to the restrictions put in place to avoid the spread of Covid-19.

              Before the pandemic, children in corrections faced a difficult time with needed socialization simply due to the nature of Western incarceration. The pandemic only exacerbated this isolation by putting heavy restrictions on how these kids were able to move around the prison, this included:

Time out of the cell was just 40 minutes per day

All children were eating meals alone in their cell

Children were routinely held in solitary confinement

Out-of-cell activities such as therapy and school were indefinitely put on hold until the spread of Covid-19 was halted

All school activities such as worksheets were to be done alone in their cell

Suspended visits from friends and family

The Covid-19 pandemic introduced new challenges and unprecedented hardships for a plethora of different groups of individuals. It is no secret that the pandemic introduced a lot of change into almost everyone’s life globally. Children were one of, if not, the most significant group of individuals affected, unable to attend school or see friends, their free-time and social time was nearly completely eliminated, confining them to their own means.

During adolescence and early childhood, proper socialization is vital as it builds a foundation for an individuals communication skills, allowing them to develop healthy relationships, properly articulate their thoughts and feelings and a lot of the time, provides a basis for them to develop emotional intelligence. The pandemic hindered children of all ages from being able to attend school, socialize, or engage in a great deal of activities for the better part of two years, this has been reflected within the studies about this topic which are best described as the explanation from SickKids.ca that says “We found that overall, children were faring mostly worse, and occasionally better, compared to their pre-pandemic selves,” (New research ... youth mental health, 2021).

Here are some of the more stand out statistics we are seeing post-pandemic:

70.2% of school-aged children (6-18) and 66.1% of preschool children (2-5) reported deterioration in one of these 6 categories: depression, anxiety, irritability, attention span, hyperactivity and obsessions/compulsions whereas 19.5% of school-aged and 31.5% of preschool-aged children reported improvements in a domain (New research ... youth mental health, 2021).

Children with clinical history of Autism Spectrum Disorder had the highest reports of deterioration in depression, irritability, attention span and hyperactivity and this is theorized to be attributed to all the different factors that caused disruptions to their daily routine, such as online learning and closure of many school and social services (New research ... youth mental health, 2021).

Public Health Ontario reports that for some youth transitioning into adulthood, the increased time spent with family has created: strengthened family connections, a stronger sense of independence and a “greater awareness of the world around them” which entails, a more developed sense of empathy, increased connections to nature, and lastly a stronger feeling of resiliency (Impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of children and youth in Ontario, 2021).