Back to the drawing board for families frustrated by challenges of online learning

The first week back to school after the holiday break has been a turbulent one for many families across the province. 

Students across Ontario are back learning online, after Premier Doug Ford announced on Monday that schools would be closed to in-class learning until at least Jan. 17 as the Omicron variant surges across the province.

For parents like Krista Smith, the back and forth of in-person and online learning has only become more challenging, especially for her seven-year-old son with autism.

"He doesn't understand it and it's really difficult. He doesn't know how to make sense of it. So you see a lot of behavioural issues come up and it's just really hard to see when you know that your kid is really struggling," she said.

Smith's son, Connor, is in Grade 1 in a Thunder Bay school. He receives one-on-one support during his school days. Through the pandemic, his learning has been interrupted several times since he began junior kindergarten two years ago.

Smith said the disruptions take a serious toll on their family, as her son not only relies on school for routine, but as a place to develop communication and social skills. 

"I'm really tired of the narrative that kids are so resilient they'll get through this. But at what cost are they getting through this? You're going to see it later on," she said.

Losing the structure of their in-person learning routine has already begun to negatively affect his sleep and anxiety levels, she added.

Smith said she also worries about the long term impacts of the uncertainty when it comes to in-person learning. 

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Those concerns are shared by other parents, like Elizabeth Tucker in Fort Frances. 

Her nine-year-old son has been participating in online learning since Wednesday. She said her son has a hard time staying focused.

"Pretty much all last year he did it online and he fell behind quite a bit. So, this year in the last two months, he's caught up to where he's supposed to be. And now I'm concerned that he's going to fall right back behind," Tucker said.

"It's just kind of devastating to see your kids struggle so much and there's nothing you can do as a parent and there's nothing the teachers can do either because you know, everybody's doing what they can."