VOA教育报道2023 疫情后, 美国有多少孩子需要特殊教育?（在线收听）

Many schools in the United States are facing increased student behavioral and mental health needs.

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。

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.

但家长和学校官员正在努力查明一些学生的问题是与新冠疫情有关还是长期存在的问题。

Heidi Whitney is from San Diego, California.

海蒂·惠特尼来自加利福尼亚州圣迭戈。

She has a daughter in middle school.

她有一个上中学的女儿。

The pandemic sent Whitney's daughter into crisis.

疫情使惠特尼的女儿陷入危机。

She was sleeping all day and awake all night.

她整个白天都在睡觉，整夜都不睡。

When in-person classes started, she was so tense at times that she asked to come home early.

当面授课程开始时，她有时会非常紧张，以致于她要求早点回家。

Whitney tried to keep her daughter in class.

惠特尼试图让她的女儿留在班上。

But the girl's condition worsened.

但这个女孩的病情恶化了。

She had to go the hospital and was diagnosed with depression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a mental disorder.

她不得不去医院，然后被诊断出患有抑郁症和注意力缺陷与多动障碍，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.

今年秋天，当惠特尼的女儿开始上高中时，她被认为有资格接受特殊教育服务，因为她的精神障碍损害了她的学习能力。

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.

但学校官员表示，很难知道她的行为在多大程度上是一种长期疾病还是由疫情导致的心理健康问题。

"They put my kid in a gray area," Whitney said.

惠特尼说：“他们把我的孩子放在了灰色地带”。

Officials in many schools who are dealing with increasing student mental health needs have been struggling with difficult decisions.

许多学校的官员正在应对日益增长的学生心理健康需求，他们一直在做出艰难的决定。

They are trying to find out whether the problems they are seeing are temporary or are the sign of more serious disabilities.

他们正试图找出他们所发现的问题是暂时的还是更严重障碍的迹象。

Some observers say this puts pressure on parents trying to decide how best to help their children.

一些观察人士表示，这给试图决定如何最好地帮助孩子的父母带来了压力。

The question is: If a child is not eligible for special education, where should parents go for help?

问题是：如果孩子不符合接受特殊教育的条件，家长应该去哪里寻求帮助？

Rules require school officials to say how they will meet the needs of students with disabilities in Individualized Education Programs (IEPs).

规定要求学校官员说明他们将如何在个性化教育计划中满足有心理障碍的学生的需求。

Some schools have struggled to catch up with mental health evaluations that were delayed in the early days of the pandemic.

一些学校一直在努力补上在疫情爆发初期被推迟的心理健康评估。

There is also a reported shortage of school psychologists.

据报道，学校心理学家也出现了短缺。

Federal law says to be eligible for special education services, a child's school performance must be suffering from one of 13 disability groups.

联邦法律规定，要获得特殊教育服务的资格，孩子的在校表现必须属于13种心理障碍群体中的一种。

They include autism, ADHD, learning disabilities like dyslexia, developmental delays, and emotional problems.

其中包括自闭症、注意力缺陷与多动障碍、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.

约翰·艾森伯格是国家特殊教育主管协会的负责人。

He said it is important not to send children who might have had a difficult time during the pandemic into the special education system.

他说，重要的是不要把在疫情期间可能遇到困难的儿童送进特殊教育系统。

"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。“它真的是为那些需要特殊指导的孩子们设计的。”

He added: special education is not "for kids that might have not got the greatest instruction during the pandemic or have...other issues."

他还说：特殊教育的对象不是“那些在疫情期间可能没有得到最好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，约有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.

在6岁及以上儿童中，特殊教育入学率比上一学年增加了2.4%。

The government numbers also showed a large drop in enrollment for younger, preschool-age students, many of whom were slow to return to school.

政府数据还显示，年龄较小的学龄前学生的入学人数大幅下降，其中许多人重返学校的速度较慢。

Some special education directors worry the system is taking on too many students.

一些特殊教育主管担心该系统招收的学生太多。

But others say the opposite is the case.

但也有人说，情况恰恰相反。

They say schools are moving too quickly to dismiss parents' concerns.

他们说，学校行动太快，因而无法消除家长的担忧。

Some children are having evaluations pushed off because of worker shortages, said Marcie Lipsitt.

Marcie Lipsitt说，由于劳动力短缺，一些孩子的评估被推迟。

She is an activist for special education in Michigan.

她是密歇根州特殊教育的积极支持者。

She said, in one school district, evaluations came to a complete halt in May because there was no school psychologist to do them.

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.

布兰迪·坦纳说，可能很难知道由疫情而引发的问题与真正的障碍之间的区别。

She is an Atlanta-based psychologist who has had many requests from parents seeking evaluations for possible learning disabilities, ADHD and autism.

她是亚特兰大的一名心理学家，她收到了家长的许多请求，要求她对可能存在的学习障碍、注意力缺陷与多动障碍和自闭症进行评估。

"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.

她说：“我问了更多关于新冠疫情前和疫情后的背景问题，比如，‘这是功能上的变化还是以前就存在过的问题，而现在……变得更糟了？’”

Kevin Rubenstein is with the Council of Administrators of Special Education based in Missouri.

凯文·鲁宾斯坦就职于密苏里州特殊教育行政管理委员会。

He said it is important to have good systems in place to know the difference.

他说，重要的是要有好的系统来区分不同之处。

The federal government, he noted, has provided large amounts of COVID aid money to schools.

他指出，联邦政府已经向学校提供了大量的新冠疫情援助资金。

Some of the money is for counseling and other support to help students recover from the pandemic restrictions.

部分资金用于咨询和其他支持，以帮助学生从疫情限制措施中恢复过来。

But activists worry about what will happen to students who do not receive the help they might need.

但活动人士担心，如果学生没有得到他们可能需要的帮助，会发生什么。

Children who do not get help might have more behavioral problems and fewer possibilities for life after school, said Dan Stewart.

丹·斯图尔特说，没有得到帮助的孩子可能会有更多的行为问题，课后活动可能也会减少。

He is with the National Disability Rights Network.

他在国家心理障碍权利网络中心工作。

Whitney, the mother from San Diego, said she is happy her daughter is getting help, including a case manager.

来自圣迭戈的母亲惠特尼说，她很高兴女儿得到了帮助，包括一名病例管理人员。

She also will be able to leave class as needed if she feels nervous.

如果她感到紧张，她还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。“我们刚刚经历了新冠疫情。放过他们吧。”

I'm Dan Novak. And I'm Faith Pirlo.

丹·诺瓦克、费思·皮尔洛为您共同播报。