Qualitative Investigation of Educator and Parent Experiences of Education Services During COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a worldwide disruption of education service systems. A significant gap has emerged in understanding the impact of these changes to both educational services and child development. The current qualitative study presents interviews with early childhood educators and parents to capture their experiences with educational service delivery for young children with disabilities during the pandemic. The study included nine early childhood educators and nine parents with children between the ages of 3 and 6 who received preschool special education services during the pandemic. Themes that emerged from the interviews include changes to the modality and intensity of services, barriers and challenges related to service delivery, and benefits resulting from shifts to educational services. All findings will be discussed with an eye toward informing future practice related to family-centered services.