2022年12月21日 VOA慢速英语：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.
美国的许多学校都面临着越来越多的学生行为和心理健康需求。但家长和学校官员正在努力查明一些学生的问题是否与 COVID-19 大流行有关，或者是长期问题。
 
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) 来自加利福尼亚州的圣地亚哥。她有一个正在上中学的女儿。大流行使惠特尼的女儿陷入危机。她整天都在睡觉，整夜都醒着。当面对面的课程开始时，她有时会非常紧张，以至于她要求早点回家。
 
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.
惠特尼试图让她的女儿留在课堂上。但女孩的病情恶化了。她不得不去医院，并被诊断出患有抑郁症和注意力缺陷多动障碍 (ADHD)，这是一种精神障碍。
 
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.
今年秋天开始上高中时，惠特尼的女儿被认为有资格接受特殊教育服务，因为她的疾病损害了她的学习能力。但学校官员表示，很难知道她的行为有多少是长期病症或大流行病引起的心理健康问题的结果。
 
"They put my kid in a gray area," Whitney said.
“他们把我的孩子放在灰色地带，”惠特尼说。
 
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.
许多学校的官员正在应对日益增长的学生心理健康需求，他们一直在为艰难的决定而苦苦挣扎。他们正试图找出他们所看到的问题是暂时的还是更严重残疾的征兆。
 
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?
一些观察家说，这给试图决定如何最好地帮助孩子的父母带来了压力。问题是：如果孩子不符合接受特殊教育的条件，家长应该去哪里求助？
 
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.
规则要求学校官员说明他们将如何在个性化教育计划 (IEP) 中满足残障学生的需求。一些学校一直在努力赶上在大流行初期被推迟的心理健康评估。据报道，学校心理学家也短缺。
 
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.
联邦法律规定，要获得特殊教育服务的资格，孩子的学业成绩必须属于 13 种残疾群体中的一种。它们包括自闭症、多动症、阅读障碍等学习障碍、发育迟缓和情绪问题。
 
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.
约翰·艾森伯格 (John Eisenberg) 是全国特殊教育州长协会的主席。他说，重要的是不要将在大流行期间可能遇到困难的孩子送入特殊教育系统。
 
"That's not what it was designed for," he said. "It's really designed for kids who need specially designed instruction."
“这不是它的设计目的，”他说。“它真的是为需要特别设计指导的孩子设计的。”
 
He added: special education is not "for kids that might have not got the greatest instruction during the pandemic or have…other issues."
他补充说：特殊教育不是“针对那些在大流行期间可能没有得到最好的指导或有……其他问题的孩子”。
 
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.
国家教育统计中心发现，在 2020-2021 学年，大约 15% 的公立学校学生接受了特殊教育服务。
 
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 岁及以上儿童中，特殊教育入学率与上一学年相比增长了 2.4%。政府数据还显示，年龄较小的学龄前学生入学人数大幅下降，其中许多人重返学校的速度很慢。
 
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.
一些特殊教育主管担心该系统招收了太多学生。但其他人说情况恰恰相反。他们说学校行动太快，无法消除家长的担忧。
 
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 说，由于工人短缺，一些孩子的评估被推迟了。她是密歇根州特殊教育的积极分子。她说，在一个学区，评估在 5 月份完全停止，因为没有学校心理学家来做评估。
 
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.
布兰迪·坦纳 (Brandi Tanner) 说，可能很难区分因大流行而引发的问题与实际残疾之间的区别。她是亚特兰大的一名心理学家，她收到了家长的许多要求，要求对可能存在的学习障碍、多动症和自闭症进行评估。
 
"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.
“我问了很多关于 COVID 之前和 COVID 之后的背景问题，比如，‘这是功能上的变化，还是之前存在的东西……变得更糟了？’”她说。
 
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.
凯文·鲁宾斯坦 (Kevin Rubenstein) 就职于密苏里州特殊教育管理委员会。他说，重要的是要有良好的系统来了解差异。
 
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，联邦政府已向学校提供了大量 COVID 援助资金。部分资金用于咨询和其他支持，以帮助学生从大流行限制中恢复过来。
 
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.
但是活动人士担心那些没有得到他们可能需要的帮助的学生会发生什么。丹·斯图尔特说，得不到帮助的孩子可能会有更多的行为问题，放学后的生活机会也更少。他在国家残疾人权利网络工作。
来自圣地亚哥的母亲惠特尼说，她很高兴她的女儿得到帮助，包括一名个案经理。如果她感到紧张，她也可以根据需要离开课堂。
 
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.
来自圣地亚哥的母亲惠特尼说，她很高兴她的女儿得到帮助，包括一名个案经理。如果她感到紧张，她也可以根据需要离开课堂。
 
"I realize that a lot of kids were going through this," she said. "We just went through COVID. Give them a break."
“我意识到很多孩子都经历过这种情况，”她说。“我们刚刚经历了 COVID。让他们休息一下。”