The same frustrations are shared by many of the nation's 7 million students with disabilities — a group representing 14% of American schoolchildren.
Advocates for these students say the extended months of learning from home and erratic attempts to reopen schools are deepening a crisis that began with the switch to distance learning in March.
Some schools have prioritized high-needs students in reopening plans, bringing small numbers of them back to campuses that otherwise are sticking with distance learning. But those options have only fueled further anguish when they have been reversed because of the virus, and educators say personalized video sessions remain poor substitutes for classroom experience.
Alarmed by their children's setbacks in skills and behaviors, parents are pursuing legal challenges and requesting makeup services. Many worry that the ground lost will be impossible to recover.
“Regression is something that will be very, very hard to recuperate from,” said Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education.
In a move that seemed to acknowledge the importance of in-person learning, New York City announced Sunday that it will reopen the nation's largest school system to in-person learning, including programs serving special-needs students at all grade levels. The announcement marked a major reversal after New York schools were shut down because of rising COVID-19 cases.
School districts have also struggled to deliver guaranteed services such as physical therapy that must be done in person or that require equipment, according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office.
To his family's relief, sixth-grader Griffin Stinner returned to school four days a week in mid-October when special education students were among the first to return to the Kenmore Town of Tonawanda Union Free School District in western New York state.
But it did not last. Shortly before Thanksgiving, the district announced it would revert to fully remote learning because of the region's rising virus caseload.
Griffin's mother, Dawn, a teacher who is leading her preschool class of 4- and 5-year-olds remotely, called the situation “frustrating beyond belief.” After the initial shutdown in the spring, Griffin, who is nonverbal and has autism, would put on his shoes after breakfast to await the bus and cry over the loss of routine.
His mother would stand next to him and sign him in and out of lessons on a computer multiple times a day. “It was just really hard for him to grasp the concept that this was school,” she said.
Having to pivot again is “going to be a huge disruption in his life,” she said.
The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act guarantees a free public education to children with disabilities and allows for “compensatory” services if a state education agency, in response to a complaint, determines that more needs to be done.