Examining the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on school-age and university students with disabilities

This project aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the academic and socioemotional needs of Students with Disabilities (SWD) at the secondary and university level during remote instruction. Specifically, the project consisted of two major studies. The first targeted secondary-level SWD and their families, where the research team sought to examine how online instruction under COVID-19 conditions affected student academic performance, and what type of special education and family supports were provided. The second study was conducted in two chronological stages, specifically exploring the academic and socioemotional needs of university-level SWD during remote learning and identifying ways to support their needs at the institutional level. The first stage took place in April 2021 and focused on a small sample of undergraduate SWD, where the research team pilot-tested its data-collection instruments (interview protocol, survey questionnaire); the second stage ended in July 2021 and included a larger sample of both undergraduate and graduate university SWD.