“I’m doing my best”: experiences of parents navigating services for their children with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

COVID-19 led to an unprecedented shift to exclusively remote education across the United States. The immediate and emergency pivoting from face-to-face services to telehealth left families responsible for navigating the educational needs of their children with disabilities while also coping with increased home and work responsibilities. This study examines the obstacles parents faced, and the extent to which parents were prepared to support their children, and discusses resources necessary to best support students through pandemic based remote education. Descriptive and correlational statistics were used to analyze survey data collected from 96 families of children with disabilities. Findings suggest that telehealth related therapeutic structures implemented as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in parents of children with disabilities facing significant challenges in managing their schedules. Parents were expected to facilitate thelehealth based interventions with little to no training, resulting in them feelin overwhelmed due to their limited experience and a lack of training.