After the pandemic, more students are diagnosed with special needs

Since the pandemic, more children need special education than ever before due largely to speech delays and behavioral issues, reports The State of the American Student 2024. But it's not clear programs are effective, says Arizona State's Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE).

Students with disabilities and English Learners were hit the hardest by school closures, writes Amanda Geduld on The 74. "The average student has recovered about one-third of their pandemic-era learning losses in math and a quarter in reading," but the neediest students are falling farther behind, according to the analysis.

Parents said their special-needs children didn't get legally required services during lockdown. Instead, expectations were lowered. One researcher said “the parents were being ghosted by their schools," says Robin Lake, who runs CRPE. They were"not getting information about how their kids were doing academically.” 

"Covid babies" who didn't get socialization or preschool opportunities are now being identified as developmentally delayed. “Are they being funneled into special education as a solution or do they really have a disability that needs to be addressed in special education?,” Lake asks, wondering, “Is special education equipped to deal with this influx?”

Each district has its own criteria for deciding who has special needs, the report notes. "The rate of identification in kindergarten in Boston grew from 14% to 18% between 2018 and 2024, while about an hour away in Worcester, the pre-K identification jumped far more, from 26% to 38%."

Children who were babies and toddlers when lockdowns started are now struggling to adapt to preschool and kindergarten, writes Ann Schimke in Chalkbeat Colorado. The number identified as needing help for developmental delays grew by 17 percent from 2019 to 2023.

"Early educators say they’re seeing more children who struggle with speech, communication, and managing their emotions than in years past," she reports. Parent anxiety during Covid lockdowns could be a factor, as well as an increase in screen time.