Students with special needs, many of whom go to dedicated schools or centres, are showing behavioural issues in classrooms, some of those who work with them said.
In-person classes of the children have resumed after a long gap.
Many of the children are unable to sit or stay in school for long hours and find it difficult to cope because their social skills have been impacted following their long stay away from the campus and peers, the heads of two special schools said.
Online classes, which were being held for around two years since March 2020 as a precaution against Covid, had reduced the scope of group activities as the students had to perform most of them alone in front of the computer screen.
“The coping mechanism of our students has been impacted and they are getting anxious much faster. The restlessness has gone up and many of them are finding it difficult to stay in school for long," said Sudeshna Chowdhury, principal of Bhabna Child Development Centre, which caters to individuals with autism and intellectual disabilities.
The children’s performance in "individualised sessions" can still be called satisfactory but they are manifesting behavioural issues in "group activities”.
“Some of them are resorting to violence or self-harm. There is an anxiety inside and at times they are also disturbing the shadow teacher in the back of the class," said Chowdhury.
The social skills of children have been impacted, said psychotherapist Minu Budhia.
“Group activities help develop social skills of individuals with special needs. There were no real group activities when online classes were held. They were doing it individually in their homes,” said Budhia, founder, Caring Minds.
At Caring Minds and Bhabna, the emphasis is on individual sessions for those who are showing anxiety issues and gradually get them into group activities.
The aim is to familiarise children with the classroom set-up.
With the reopening of institutions, parents are also expecting children to be in school.”But we have to gradually increase the time. We cannot expect them to be in school for long hours at a stretch from the beginning," said Chowdhury.
