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After speaking with esteemed Professional School Psychologist Dr. Gold, we have included the Q&A that was conducted to gain further perspective into issues that children and parents are facing in the world today.
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Q: What do you think the biggest obstacles you will be encountered with this year?
A: Last spring with the advent of the school closure was a harbinger of the challenges that we will continue to face until schools open normally again. I found there are different obstacles for teachers (and myself), parents, and students. For teachers, the biggest obstacles have been in developing online remote lessons and learning the technology to deliver those lessons. Another obstacle, particularly at the beginning of the year is for teachers to be able to build rapport and connection with new students, as they don’t have the convenience (and privilege) of interacting with them personally. My own challenges are also technically related. I have figured out how to interact with children when I counsel them on Zoom. I am just starting to assess students in person behind a plexiglass screen and with masks on, but I miss nonverbal communication. I am struggling with managing small and large groups – my social skills groups, divorce groups, math clubs, Teach Equity and Acceptance of Gender Sexuality Alliance clubs, my class lessons, and parent education. These are all important activities for me and figuring out how to do them is an ongoing and challenging process.
The biggest obstacles for parents are managing and supervising their children’s home learning. Many kids actually rise to the challenge of distance learning and can be independent learners. But younger children and even some older ones do not engage, and parents are very frustrated by having to be both parents and teachers. I have had the experience of trying to assist parents whose kids are literally driving them crazy with resistance and fighting and these are kids who were not on the radar during regular school. I have encouraged parents not to worry so much about school, not to risk their own mental health, and destroy their relationships with their kids over this. Another effect of this is that more parents are requesting Special Education assessment for their kids because of the emotional challenges of distance learning, where eligibility under these circumstances may be exceedingly difficult to determine.
Student obstacles include motivating themselves to work, not becoming addicted to iPads and computers, even having to deal with sitting in front of an iPad for five hours and getting headaches, poor posture, being distracted by gaming and other more fun computer activities than academics. The school district is working very hard to make distance learning fun, interesting, and with breaks during the day, but that is a work in progress and is by no means working perfectly yet. Obvious, the social isolation is an obstacle for many students, as I describe below.
Q: What do you feel the biggest fears parents will have sending their children to school given the current circumstances in the world today?
A: I think the biggest fear that parents have is that their kids will not be able to adhere to the safety requirements and that they could put themselves or their families in danger of getting the virus. In my upper socioeconomic community parents are also very fearful that their children have missed out on instruction and won’t catch up enough to be competitive for good high schools or colleges. I have tried to reassure parents that everyone in the country (and the world) is in the same boat and that kids will continue to learn at their usual pace and can catch up when normal instruction resumes. In general, most parents I have communicated with are very eager to have their kids back in school.
Q: What advice can you offer to students that are concerned about COVID-19?
A: I have several areas of advice for students and their concerns. I have found that students are not so worried about getting the virus, themselves, but obviously, I advise them that their behavior such as social distancing and wearing masks helps protect those they love – their family members. I find that kids are often more worried about the older members of their family such as parents and grandparents, so my advice is to follow the protective regulations. When I counsel students in handling these very unusual circumstances, I almost always ask them to tell me what they are grateful for, because it is so important (not just for kids) to recognize that even these very trying circumstances have silver linings and that our own situations may not be nearly as difficult as they are for others. My advice is to try to keep a positive attitude even when a life situation can be very depressing. I strongly advocate for children to be resilient and to recognize that they have the power and strength to deal with challenging circumstances. I advise them to look for opportunities that they might not have had, such as spending real quality time with their family, making connections with others on Zoom, taking the extra time that they have to play creatively and imaginatively. As adults we know that nothing lasts forever, so I try to reassure kids that this, too, shall pass and they will be able to look back on 2020 (or however long) and recognize that they were able to survive challenges and disappointments and even thrive and learn that they are capable of flexibility and can be resilient.
Q: How do you think that social distancing and isolation has affected children?
A: As with all children different circumstances have different effects on different children. I have observed that more introverted and less socially comfortable children have actually thrived with remote learning at home. It is not surprising that children who are teased or bullied at school are relieved to not have to experience social challenges. If children have good relationships with their parents and siblings, they have been accepting of the social isolation. However, for most kids the social isolation has been exceedingly difficult. They express that they miss their friends and try to find ways to meet friends in person while keeping safe. For some students having the structure of school and the positive peer pressure to do work is lost and they struggle with engaging in school isolated at home. A positive result of this is that kids frequently express how much they miss school and how much they look forward to returning, even if academics was not their strong suit.
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