A special education: Institute for Child Development transitions to an all-day, online school

With the pandemic shuttering schools for weeks at a time, living rooms are often doing double-duty — as classrooms for children now learning at home. Add to that an atmosphere of anxiety and stress — from working at home, dealing with job loss or heading out to an essential job, to preparing extra meals and forgoing social connections, to the constant stream of news related to COVID-19.

Now imagine that your child has autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Individuals with ASD often find it difficult to cope with changes in routine, making disruptions in the school day particularly challenging to developmental goals.

To meet the educational need, Binghamton University’s Institute for Child Development (ICD) has shifted its entire 330-minute school day to an online format, linking students, teachers, therapists and parents in a common goal. That transition also happened swiftly, in accordance with changing directives from Broome County and the State of New York.

The experience has forged a stronger bond between teachers and parents, who now have the opportunity to be more actively involved in their child’s learning. Staff are also able to offer feedback, support and in-the-moment training to parents in a way that a traditional school day doesn’t typically permit, said special education teacher Jamie Tredo.

“The bottom line for us is that this system is working because all of our staff are truly committed to our students and their families,” said Rachel Cavalari, director of the ICD’s Special Education Autism and Early Intervention programs. “Our success at present is because we have people who will spend the extra time, stay up late or wake up early, and keep working when they know they are in the service of others.”

Many students face challenges when it comes to online learning, but the obstacles are even greater for children with ASD who have trouble paying attention during activities, responding to social cues, and understanding and using verbal language. Students at home can also walk away from the screen and may not have the physical supports they are accustomed to in a classroom, such as specific cushions, picture schedules or writing implements with grips, said Lisa Cooper, director of educational services.

“It’s much harder to cue a student on what to do or where to look when you are separated by distances and a screen. That’s why parents are such important partners for online learning to be a success,” Cavalari explained. “We can’t just put up self-paced lessons and have children sit at a computer and do them on their own.”

Instead, lessons are interactive and use a parent coaching model, which is supported by research as a best practice in remote methods of instruction. To that end, ICD sent a goal summary for each child to their parents, with instructions on how to help students meet those aims.

Classroom teams rotate through hour-long sessions, where they demonstrate and guide specific learning activities based on the students’ developmental needs. Twice a week, the teams hold classroom meetings with students and their parents to answer questions, and other therapies are also delivered based on each child’s individual needs. The ICD also offers “Ask an Expert” sessions to share updates and address trickier topics, such as coping, self-care and creating opportunities for skill development at home.

“Supporting parents has been a crucial component to the program’s success, and we made sure to reach out to every family we serve early in the transition,” said psychology Professor Jennifer Gillis, co-director of the ICD. Daily online sessions with Gillis, Cavalari and Cooper gave families a chance to air their questions and concerns, and become acquainted with the Zoom platform.

“At the end of the day, it is a blessing to see our students in their home, engage with them and their parents on a daily basis, and continue to build relationships with them and help them learn and grow even when we cannot physically be present with them,” Tredo said.

Making the system work

To make an all-day virtual school viable, a great deal of communication, strategizing and coordination goes on behind the scenes. Information technology services, hosting platforms, HIPAA compliance, and family and provider schedules all need to be taken into account, along with shifting state or county regulations. Some of the directives impacting the program were issued at 10:30 p.m. on a Friday night, prompting a furious Saturday morning of conference calls and long hours of planning.

The school had already been using Zoom in the weeks prior to transition, so keeping the web-based meeting platform made sense. Next up were secure staff and parent portals on the school’s web server, allowing for the quick transfer of materials, training videos and links needed for the virtual school, explained Michael Purdy, ICD’s information technology director. Critical staff also received secure access to needed databases and file servers, enabling them to work from home, as well as notebook computers. For the final step, the ICD swiftly created training videos for both staff and parents.

All told, it took the ICD roughly four days to transition all of their offerings online, save for certain types of group services.

Teachers admit that they were initially anxious about the transition, their ability to connect with students online and the potential stress online instruction could add to families. In the end, the school hit the ground running, with teachers and assistants and directors in constant communication, Tredo said.

“Not only were we constantly communicating, we were problem-solving, lifting up and inspiring each other to give ourselves grace,” Tredo said. “We banded together in the interest of being our best selves for our students. The students were, as always, the center of our attention.”