Down syndrome group offers help to fill Ohio school gap for students

As she pored over the survey responses fromstressedout families, Kari Jones, who leads the Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio, had little doubt about her organization’s next steps.

“We’re dipping into savings,” she said. “If this ain’t a rainy day, I don’t know what is.”

Nearly95% of respondents had indicated that access to a tutor was a critical need for their school-age children. Jones got approval fromher board to set aside $125,000 in emergency financial assistance to help member families as they again prepare to navigate school fully, or partly, online.

“Some school districts are offering to provide an aide to go into the homes, butmany are not,” Jones said. “That’s not a knock on them. Everyone

is doing the best they can. But that’s not enough for familieswho really need supports for their children.”

The association has developed an application process for providing about 90 familieswith up to $1,500 to help pay for in-home educational assistance and care for children with Down syndrome. Grant recipients will be connectedtoTeach4Hire, acommunity-based platform that links students to aides, tutors and educators.

Steve Beha, family outreach and education coordinator at the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities, said the effort is a creativeway to addresssome of the hardships posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

“They’re kind of stepping in and becoming that kind of glue to help hold everything together,” he said. “It’s neat to see family organizations step up to the plate like that.”

Advocates say the shift to remote learning can be especially difficult for students with disabilities who require an individualized education program, known as an IEP.

“Every need is different — they’re called IEP’s for a reason,” Beha said, adding that school districts also vary in their approaches for serving special-needs children during the COVID-19 crisis.

Sharon Yates said it hasn’t been easy figuring out how her 13-year-old daughter, Joy Carter, learns. “It’s challenging and it’s stressful,” Yates said. “I’m not a teacher.”

When Joy, who has Down syndrome, stopped attending her Westerville school earlier this year, Yates figured they could manage for a while. “You think, ‘OK, we’ll do this till the end of the year and then things will be back to normal.’ ”

But things aren’t back to normal, and Yates found it nearly impossible to keep up with two full-time positions — working from home and overseeing Joy’s education. She wound up taking several weeks of half-day leave from her job to help her daughter.

Yates said Joy’s school is allowing special-needs students to attend for a few hourseachdaywhenthenew year begins, which will help. “You don’t want to have to choose between your child’s educationandbringinghome a paycheck,” she said.

But Yates still plans to apply for a grant from the Down syndrome association, as her seventh-grader will receive just a few hours of in-person instruction.

“She needs asmuch help as she can get,” Yates said. “Not just fromme, but from someone who is an educator.”