From Hong Kong to Malaysia and India, how online learning failed special needs students during the Covid-19 pandemic

Children with learning difficulties were disadvantaged before Covid, but with schools closed the gap is widening. ‘They are the real losers of the pandemic,’ educators warn

Many with ADHD and autism lost hard-won gains when learning went online. Therapists, meanwhile, have been swamped by a new wave of problems, including anxiety

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Bree Crocket, of the Spot centre in Hong Kong, hosts an online session. Photo: Ruth Ansari

Kok Xinghui,Amrit Dhillon,Raissa RoblesandUshar Daniele

Published: 11:30am, 26 Feb 2022Updated: 11:49am, 26 Feb 2022

In India, a child with ADHD screams at the computer in front of him, frustrated to the point of seizure. In Malaysia, a child with autism stares blankly at the on-screen face of a teacher he once knew but can no longer recognise. In Hong Kong, a single mother of five special needs children breaks down in despair at the closure of schools. In the Philippines, a 12-year-old boy quietly attempts to hang himself, for the third time.

These snapshots of post-Covid life – as relayed by educators across the region – will be all too familiar to the tens of millions of parents across the Asia-Pacific region whose children have special educational needs. Yet despite their great number – the United Nations estimates one in six people in the region lives with some form of disability – many are likely to feel their plight has gone largely unnoticed.

Since the pandemic broke out at the end of 2019, schools across the region have been forced, to varying extents, to rely on online learning models. That switch has prompted much angst and soul-searching for all parents about how to ensure the continuing educational development of their children, and about how to juggle working life with being an unofficial part-time teaching assistant at home.

But too often, educators say, the debate has ignored how the switch has hit hardest those children who were already struggling and whose needs make learning online particularly challenging. It is common, they point out, for any child to struggle to focus while learning from home; but for a child with ADHD (Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder) it can be near impossible; it is common for people working from home to complain about distractions, but for children with hearing impairments even modest background noise can entirely drown out what is being said on-screen.

The danger, educators warn, is not only that special needs pupils are falling further behind their peers, but that many are regressing and losing hard-earned behavioural gains. As they do so, frustration mounts for both parent and child. Meltdowns become more common and isolation takes its toll, making learning even harder.

A vicious circle forms, as without the structure of a classroom the child loses a source of regulation, while their parent loses a pressure valve. As a consequence, educators are being swamped by a new wave of problems, including rising cases of anxiety in what some describe as the invisible aftermath of Covid-19.

A student in Hong Kong takes an online class during the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: SCMP Pictures

The importance of schools

In Hong Kong, where schools have been shut since last month due to a fifth wave of the virus – at least the fourth round of closures since the pandemic started – educators have seen a sharp rise in the number of children requiring special needs services.