Experiences and Perceived Self-Efficacy in Distance Learning Among Teachers of Students With Special Educational Needs

Specific Learning Disorders and Special Educational Needs during COVID-19 Pandemic; Pilot Survey Study Performed in Local District Schools in Italy

Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) are a group of heterogeneous health deficits frequently diagnosed in early childhood that cause difficulties in general intellectual functioning. In the last decades in Italy new laws have been developed to give practical guidelines for the best education plans for children with SLD. Background: The aim of our study was to determine the efficacy of the educational treatment on SLD in Primary and Secondary schools in the Italian city of Barletta. We acquired valuable data to evaluate Special Education Needs during COVID-19. Methods: Our study was conducted from April to June 2021, during the second “lockdown” period in Italy. A fact-finding survey was conducted to schools with a questionnaire provided to the teachers to acquire data on the SEN applied in the management of distance learning for children. Results: The study involved 15 male and 6 female pupils with SLD in Primary Schools and 18 male and 6 female in Secondary Schools. The schools participating in the study organized distance learning programs with a support teacher with a 1:1 ratio. Data showed that all children with SLD needed a support teacher. Conclusions: The findings of this pilot study suggest that distance learning programs are able to achieve adequate educational goals, despite the difficulties of the lockdown period.

E-Tools for Personalizing Learning During the Pandemic: Case Study of an Innovative Solution for Remote Teaching

“Every child counts” has lost its value even from the political discourse of some societies during the pandemic, proving that the level of culture of inclusion is the true standard of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) commitment. Online education and therapy required rethinking the way we educate children with special needs and, implicitly, prepare them for life. We consider that the personalized approach of the therapeutic intervention was the main difficulty. In this article, we propose a solution to this problem, an approach based on a platform initially developed by tactileimages.org for vision-impaired pupils which became a tool in the universal design of learning materials. This e-learning tool includes an Editor, a browser-based software developed to allow the creation or adaptation of drawings into vector images; the QR code through which areas of educational and therapeutic interest are allocated to pictures for task personalization; and the voice-over function of the companion application. The customized material is identified by image recognition algorithms, and the user's gesture is recognized by artificial intelligence algorithms, which receives (by voice-over) details about therapeutic tasks in remote teaching. The article illustrates the personalization of the therapeutic and educational path. The process starts with defining the child's functioning profile and matching function with the curriculum elements as they are found within the Erasmus + project “Cognitive Resources for Toddlers Teens and Experts” —stored in the virtual library. Information and comunication technology is currently an important vector in attaining the SDG vision. The proposed solution will be improved in order to further personalize the educational and therapeutic intervention in the post-pandemic period too.