Learning Difficulties
Children with learning disabilities typically face many challenges at school. In particular, families with children with cerebral palsy require comprehensive educational support, in addition to financial and emotional support, to best care for their loved ones. Students with cerebral palsy may experience a number of learning difficulties, such as language difficulties, short attention spans, perceptual difficulties, and motor planning difficulties. As such, literacy, numeracy, and other classroom skills become a greater challenge. Issues with fine motor and gross motor coordination and communication can also negatively impact the learning process. Learning and concentration may be affected by fine motor and gross motor coordination and communication difficulties.
The Need for Better Services
Over a third of L.A. parents surveyed by Speak Up said their children haven’t been receiving the full set of services previously promised by L.A. Unified in legally binding compliance documents. Moreover, the report recommends L.A. Unified start providing in-person tutoring for students with disabilities — something they are allowed to do under county guidelines. In fact, senior district official, regional Supt. Mike Romero of the South area, recently announced that every school in the district will soon have paid online tutoring. While roughly one-third of schools in his region are offering in-person tutoring, this is also expected to grow. As it stands, roughly 500 teachers (along with around 200 support professionals) are currently working with roughly 1,000 students out of the 460,000 total in the entire school system.
Fortunately, L.A. schools are set to increase to 25% capacity for high-needs students, so they’re able to benefit from teachers and on-site support systems crucial for their growth and education. The guidelines for this expansion are expected to be revealed sometime in the coming weeks.
Feature photo by Marcus Aurelius