2022年12月21日 VOA慢速英語：大流行后有多少孩子需要特殊教育

 


Many schools in the United States are facing increased student behavioral and mental health needs. But parents and school officials are struggling to find out if some students' problems are tied to the COVID-19 pandemic or are long-term problems.
美國的許多學校都面臨著越來越多的學生行為和心理健康需求。但家長和學校官員正在努力查明一些學生的問題是否與 COVID-19 大流行有關，或者是長期問題。
 
Heidi Whitney is from San Diego, California. She has a daughter in middle school. The pandemic sent Whitney's daughter into crisis. She was sleeping all day and awake all night. When in-person classes started, she was so tense at times that she asked to come home early.
海蒂·惠特尼 (Heidi Whitney) 來自加利福尼亞州的圣地亞哥。她有一個正在上中學的女兒。大流行使惠特尼的女兒陷入危機。她整天都在睡覺，整夜都醒著。當面對面的課程開始時，她有時會非常緊張，以至于她要求早點回家。
 
Whitney tried to keep her daughter in class. But the girl's condition worsened. She had to go the hospital and was diagnosed with depression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a mental disorder.
惠特尼試圖讓她的女兒留在課堂上。但女孩的病情惡化了。她不得不去醫(yī)院，并被診斷出患有抑郁癥和注意力缺陷多動障礙 (ADHD)，這是一種精神障礙。
 
As she started high school this fall, Whitney's daughter was considered eligible for special education services because her disorders hurt her ability to learn. But school officials said it was hard to know how much of her behavior was a long term condition or the result of mental health problems caused by the pandemic.
今年秋天開始上高中時，惠特尼的女兒被認為有資格接受特殊教育服務，因為她的疾病損害了她的學習能力。但學校官員表示，很難知道她的行為有多少是長期病癥或大流行病引起的心理健康問題的結果。
 
"They put my kid in a gray area," Whitney said.
“他們把我的孩子放在灰色地帶，”惠特尼說。
 
Officials in many schools who are dealing with increasing student mental health needs have been struggling with difficult decisions. They are trying to find out whether the problems they are seeing are temporary or are the sign of more serious disabilities.
許多學校的官員正在應對日益增長的學生心理健康需求，他們一直在為艱難的決定而苦苦掙扎。他們正試圖找出他們所看到的問題是暫時的還是更嚴重殘疾的征兆。
 
Some observers say this puts pressure on parents trying to decide how best to help their children. The question is: If a child is not eligible for special education, where should parents go for help?
一些觀察家說，這給試圖決定如何最好地幫助孩子的父母帶來了壓力。問題是：如果孩子不符合接受特殊教育的條件，家長應該去哪里求助？
 
Rules require school officials to say how they will meet the needs of students with disabilities in Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). Some schools have struggled to catch up with mental health evaluations that were delayed in the early days of the pandemic. There is also a reported shortage of school psychologists.
規(guī)則要求學校官員說明他們將如何在個性化教育計劃 (IEP) 中滿足殘障學生的需求。一些學校一直在努力趕上在大流行初期被推遲的心理健康評估。據(jù)報道，學校心理學家也短缺。
 
Federal law says to be eligible for special education services, a child's school performance must be suffering from one of 13 disability groups. They include autism, ADHD, learning disabilities like dyslexia, developmental delays, and emotional problems.
聯(lián)邦法律規(guī)定，要獲得特殊教育服務的資格，孩子的學業(yè)成績必須屬于 13 種殘疾群體中的一種。它們包括自閉癥、多動癥、閱讀障礙等學習障礙、發(fā)育遲緩和情緒問題。
 
John Eisenberg is the director of the National Association of State Directors of Special Education. He said it is important not to send children who might have had a difficult time during the pandemic into the special education system.
約翰·艾森伯格 (John Eisenberg) 是全國特殊教育州長協(xié)會的主席。他說，重要的是不要將在大流行期間可能遇到困難的孩子送入特殊教育系統(tǒng)。
 
"That's not what it was designed for," he said. "It's really designed for kids who need specially designed instruction."
“這不是它的設計目的，”他說。“它真的是為需要特別設計指導的孩子設計的。”
 
He added: special education is not "for kids that might have not got the greatest instruction during the pandemic or have…other issues."
他補充說：特殊教育不是“針對那些在大流行期間可能沒有得到最好的指導或有……其他問題的孩子”。
 
The National Center for Education Statistics found about 15 percent of all public school students received special education services in the 2020-2021 school year.
國家教育統(tǒng)計中心發(fā)現(xiàn)，在 2020-2021 學年，大約 15% 的公立學校學生接受了特殊教育服務。
 
Among children ages six and older, special education enrollment rose by 2.4 percent compared with the previous school year. The government numbers also showed a large drop in enrollment for younger, preschool-age students, many of whom were slow to return to school.
在 6 歲及以上兒童中，特殊教育入學率與上一學年相比增長了 2.4%。政府數(shù)據(jù)還顯示，年齡較小的學齡前學生入學人數(shù)大幅下降，其中許多人重返學校的速度很慢。
 
Some special education directors worry the system is taking on too many students. But others say the opposite is the case. They say schools are moving too quickly to dismiss parents' concerns.
一些特殊教育主管擔心該系統(tǒng)招收了太多學生。但其他人說情況恰恰相反。他們說學校行動太快，無法消除家長的擔憂。
 
Some children are having evaluations pushed off because of worker shortages, said Marcie Lipsitt. She is an activist for special education in Michigan. She said, in one school district, evaluations came to a complete halt in May because there was no school psychologist to do them.
Marcie Lipsitt 說，由于工人短缺，一些孩子的評估被推遲了。她是密歇根州特殊教育的積極分子。她說，在一個學區(qū)，評估在 5 月份完全停止，因為沒有學校心理學家來做評估。
 
It can be difficult to know the differences between problems that started because of the pandemic and an actual disability, said Brandi Tanner. She is an Atlanta-based psychologist who has had many requests from parents seeking evaluations for possible learning disabilities, ADHD and autism.
布蘭迪·坦納 (Brandi Tanner) 說，可能很難區(qū)分因大流行而引發(fā)的問題與實際殘疾之間的區(qū)別。她是亞特蘭大的一名心理學家，她收到了家長的許多要求，要求對可能存在的學習障礙、多動癥和自閉癥進行評估。
 
"I'm asking a lot more background questions about pre-COVID versus post-COVID, like, ‘Is this a change in functioning or was it something that was present before and…gotten worse?'" she said.
“我問了很多關于 COVID 之前和 COVID 之后的背景問題，比如，‘這是功能上的變化，還是之前存在的東西……變得更糟了？’”她說。
 
Kevin Rubenstein is with the Council of Administrators of Special Education based in Missouri. He said it is important to have good systems in place to know the difference.
凱文·魯賓斯坦 (Kevin Rubenstein) 就職于密蘇里州特殊教育管理委員會。他說，重要的是要有良好的系統(tǒng)來了解差異。
 
The federal government, he noted, has provided large amounts of COVID aid money to schools. Some of the money is for counseling and other support to help students recover from the pandemic restrictions.
他指出，聯(lián)邦政府已向學校提供了大量 COVID 援助資金。部分資金用于咨詢和其他支持，以幫助學生從大流行限制中恢復過來。
 
But activists worry about what will happen to students who do not receive the help they might need. Children who do not get help might have more behavioral problems and fewer possibilities for life after school, said Dan Stewart. He is with the National Disability Rights Network.
但是活動人士擔心那些沒有得到他們可能需要的幫助的學生會發(fā)生什么。丹·斯圖爾特說，得不到幫助的孩子可能會有更多的行為問題，放學后的生活機會也更少。他在國家殘疾人權利網(wǎng)絡工作。
來自圣地亞哥的母親惠特尼說，她很高興她的女兒得到幫助，包括一名個案經(jīng)理。如果她感到緊張，她也可以根據(jù)需要離開課堂。
 
Whitney, the mother from San Diego, said she is happy her daughter is getting help, including a case manager. She also will be able to leave class as needed if she feels nervous.
來自圣地亞哥的母親惠特尼說，她很高興她的女兒得到幫助，包括一名個案經(jīng)理。如果她感到緊張，她也可以根據(jù)需要離開課堂。
 
"I realize that a lot of kids were going through this," she said. "We just went through COVID. Give them a break."
“我意識到很多孩子都經(jīng)歷過這種情況，”她說。“我們剛剛經(jīng)歷了 COVID。讓他們休息一下。”