‘A Front Row Seat to my Kid’s Learning’: how caregivers of children with IDD leveraged community cultural wealth to support virtual learning

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the United States, and across the globe, educational disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in many challenges for families of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). However, during this time, families used their community cultural wealth to demonstrate resilience and ingenuity to offer a new lens on what education could be for their children. In this qualitative study, 15 caregivers of elementary-aged children with IDD participated in two semi-structured interviews. Each virtual interview lasted between 30 and 60 minutes. Transcripts were coded inductively and deductively, and collaborative approaches were used in thematic analysis. Through these interviews, families shared their sensemaking and offered positive experiences drawn from virtual learning. Caregiver narratives on supporting their children during virtual learning recounted strategies for reducing barriers to digital instruction, enhancing collaboration with educators remotely, and resisting deficit narratives about student ability that can enhance future home-school partnerships. Our findings include evidence of increased transparency, improved communication, and shifting assumptions of competence in teachers and parents in response to the transition to virtual learning.