Each year during the “back to school” season I face a range of bittersweet emotions. I’m always excited to see what new things my child will learn and how he will grow. Juggling childcare suddenly becomes easier. On the other hand, I am sad to lose out on our extra time at home together and anxious over how he’ll adjust to a new classroom.
This year, my emotions are even more difficult to sift through as I can’t even predict where learning wi
ll take place this year. The decisions to provide in-person instruction or e-learning are difficult for schools and parents alike. However, when you factor in the extra support and planning needed for children with IEPs or 504s the stress of these decisions amplifies. Lately I’ve heard more and more worries from friends to my Facebook page about how children’s needs will be met among the pandemic. How can a child who requires a one-on-one aide receive that level of support while e-learning, especially with working parents? For students learning in school, especially those who may be immune-compromised, are masks and social distancing enough? Can we meet the social-emotional needs of our kids in a world of social distancing or e-learning? I don’t have the answers yet, and I am sure that by the first day of school I’ll have even more questions. What I do have are resources from the library and community to help me navigate parenting in the age of COVID, from balancing health and safety issues to special education rights.
Among the Parent/Teacher collection in the Children’s Department are books on special education from Wrightslaw, resources for diagnoses from dyscalculia to dyslexia, and more. In addition to our physical collection, GPL’s Children’s Disability & Mental Health Resources website is full of information and links to organizations that can provide help and guidance. There is even a section specific to COVID-19 resources. GPL also has a variety of resources that can help supplement your child’s learning, whether it is at school, e-learning, or homeschool. These include our “Basics” picture book collection covering the ABCs, numbers, shapes, and colors, Beginning Readers, Read-Along books that include CDs, as well as a robust Fiction and Nonfiction collection. Beyond books, our kits can also help supplement learning from Beginning Reading to STEAM. And of course, GPL is still offering curbside pickup and digital resources. While we don’t know what challenges we will face during this school year, GPL is here to help!
Do you have a vision impairment? Or perhaps a loved one? The Indiana Talking Books & Braille Library (TBBL) is a fabulous free resource available to Hoosier living with a vision or physical impairment that makes reading standard printed materials difficult. All one has to do is fill out an application and have a medical professional or librarian verify the reading impairment. Once you are in the program, you can have Large Print books, audiobooks, and/or Braille materials mailed to you with free return shipping included. This has been a wonderful service for a dear family friend of mine who has macular degeneration. Find more information and an application at 
Another helpful resource is WFYI’s Indiana Reading and Information Services (IRIS). It is available for anyone with a visual, physical, or learning disability who would like to hear local and national newspapers, magazines, and other community information read aloud. My father-in-law volunteers each week to read The Reader’s Digest for IRIS listeners. If you don’t need the service, consider volunteering to read for those who do. 
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