How Did Children with Learning Disabilities Experience the COVID-19 Lockdown?

What you need to know

• The study examined how children with learning disabilities and ADHD in France experienced the COVID-19 lockdown in spring 2020
• Most children (78.3%) coped well with the lockdown period overall
• Many families faced challenges with at-home schooling, including unsuitable lesson formats and children’s lack of motivation
• Children’s rehabilitation care was less impacted, with only 16.8% of parents reporting regression
• Parents generally had a harder time coping with the lockdown than their children

Background on learning disabilities and ADHD

Learning disabilities and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are common neurodevelopmental conditions that can significantly impact a child’s education and daily functioning. Learning disabilities include conditions like dyslexia (difficulty with reading), dysgraphia (difficulty with writing), and dyscalculia (difficulty with math). ADHD is characterized by issues with attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.

Children with these conditions often require specialized educational support and therapeutic interventions to help them succeed academically and develop important skills. Typically, this includes regular sessions with professionals like speech therapists, occupational therapists, and psychologists, as well as accommodations in the classroom.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, countries around the world implemented lockdowns and school closures to slow the spread of the virus. For children with learning disabilities and ADHD, this sudden shift away from their normal routines and support systems raised concerns about potential negative impacts on their wellbeing and development.

Study overview

To examine how these children fared during lockdown, researchers in France conducted a survey of parents whose children (ages 6-17) had diagnosed learning disabilities and/or ADHD. The study aimed to assess the children’s overall experience of the spring 2020 lockdown period, as well as specific impacts on their education, rehabilitation care, and behavior.

Parents completed an anonymous online questionnaire between February and May 2021, reflecting back on the initial 2-month lockdown period from March to May 2020. The researchers analyzed responses from 217 families, comparing those who reported their child had a negative experience of lockdown to those reporting a positive or neutral experience.

Key findings

Children’s overall experience

One of the most notable findings was that the majority of children - 78.3% - were reported to have coped well with the lockdown period overall. Only 21.7% of parents indicated their child had a negative experience.

This suggests that despite the significant disruptions to their routines and support systems, most children with learning disabilities and ADHD showed resilience in adapting to the lockdown restrictions. The familiar home environment and increased family time may have provided comfort for many children during this uncertain period.

However, it’s important to note that a substantial minority - over 1 in 5 children - did struggle significantly with the lockdown experience. These children may have been more sensitive to the changes in routine or faced greater challenges in the home learning environment.

Challenges with at-home schooling

While most children coped reasonably well overall, the study revealed that many families faced significant challenges in managing schooling at home during lockdown:

• 75.6% of children received some form of distance learning support from their teachers throughout the lockdown period. However, this means nearly a quarter of children had little to no educational support during this time.

• 50.5% of parents felt the format of lessons provided was unsuitable for their child’s specific learning needs. This highlights the difficulty in quickly adapting teaching methods for children who often require specialized approaches.

• 53% of parents reported their child lacked motivation for schoolwork during lockdown.

• 46.5% said their child refused to study at times.

These last two points were significantly associated with having a negative lockdown experience overall. The sudden shift to learning at home, without the structure and social aspects of the classroom, clearly posed motivational challenges for many children.

Parents also reported struggling to support their child’s learning, with about a third saying they lacked sufficient time to assist with schoolwork. Many felt ill-equipped to manage their child’s specialized learning needs at home.

Impact on rehabilitation care

An important aspect of support for children with learning disabilities and ADHD is ongoing rehabilitation care, like speech therapy, occupational therapy, or psychotherapy. The study found this area was less severely impacted by lockdown than schooling:

• Only 16.8% of parents reported regression in their child’s rehabilitation progress during lockdown. This was significantly associated with having a negative lockdown experience.

• Many children were able to continue some form of therapy remotely. Of those who used telerehabilitation services, 81.5% of parents were satisfied with this approach.

• The rate at which different types of therapy were interrupted during lockdown varied from 12.5% to 47.6%, depending on the specific service.

While disruptions to care did occur, it seems many families and providers were able to adapt and maintain some level of therapeutic support during this period. The relatively low rate of reported regression is encouraging, suggesting that brief interruptions may not have major impacts for most children.

Behavioral and relationship changes

The study also examined how children’s behavior and family dynamics were affected during lockdown:

• 70.6% of parents reported changes in their child’s behavior during the lockdown period.

• Of those reporting changes, 44.1% said the changes were negative. The most common issues were emotional/behavioral problems (reported by one-third of parents) and sleep problems (15% of parents).

• 20.6% of parents said their relationship with their child worsened during lockdown. However, 25% reported their relationship actually improved during this period of increased time together.

These mixed results show that while lockdown created additional stress for many families, it also provided opportunities for some to strengthen their bonds. Children who experienced more behavioral issues or relationship strain with parents were significantly more likely to have a negative lockdown experience overall.

Parents’ experiences

Interestingly, parents generally seemed to have a harder time coping with lockdown than their children:

• 40.1% of parents reported having a negative experience of the lockdown period themselves, nearly double the rate of children.

• 64.8% of parents said their own psychological wellbeing deteriorated during lockdown.

• Parents’ experiences were significantly associated with their child’s - 76.6% of children who had a negative lockdown experience also had parents who struggled.

Common challenges reported by parents included difficulty organizing daily life, anxiety/stress, work overload, and feeling isolated. This highlights the immense pressure many parents faced in simultaneously managing work, childcare, homeschooling, and their own wellbeing during this unprecedented period.

Conclusions

• The COVID-19 lockdown in spring 2020 was a significant disruption for children with learning disabilities and ADHD, but the majority showed resilience and coped reasonably well overall.

• At-home schooling posed major challenges for many families, with issues around unsuitable lesson formats, lack of motivation, and parents’ capacity to support learning.

• Rehabilitation care was less severely impacted, with many children able to continue therapy remotely. Only a small percentage showed regression in this area.

• Parents generally struggled more than children with the lockdown experience, facing multiple pressures in managing work, childcare, and homeschooling.

• While most adapted successfully, a significant minority of children did have very negative lockdown experiences, highlighting the need for targeted support for vulnerable groups during such crises.

This study provides valuable insights into how a vulnerable population of children weathered an unprecedented disruption to their routines and support systems. The findings can help inform planning and policy decisions to better support children with learning disabilities and ADHD during future periods of remote learning or social restrictions.