Ohio students with disabilities can qualify for academic help through the summer

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Danielle Hague said she was holding back tears when talking about the improvement she’s seen in her son the past six months or so.

“He’s getting his math, he’s getting the reading, he’s comprehending it,” she said. “So, yes, he’s definitely more happier now that he’s getting a better understanding of what he’s learning.”

And that better understanding came with the help of his tutor through the Learning Aid Ohio program. That program was created last fall by the Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio to better serve its families who were struggling with remote learning. It later expanded so that the program could be offered statewide to all students with disabilities who experience financial hardship, including Phillip.

“Obviously the pandemic has taken a toll in so many ways, and one of the big things that we realized pretty early on was the impact it was going to have on children who are used to some additional supports in school who weren’t going to be getting that based on being remote or hybrid and just not getting the typical education that they’re used to,” said Kari Jones, president and CEO of DSACO.

The program is offered to students who are on an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or Section 504 Plan and whose families make 400 percent of the poverty level. Those families are offered funding for tutors or aides to meet individually with students to help them with their academic and other school-related challenges.

And now, that program is being extended through the summer, with a bumped-up offering of $2,000 for each qualifying student.

“It’s evident that the ripples and impacts of children being really displaced out of their typical school rhythm for as long as it’s gone on, those ripples are going to last a long time,” Jones said. “It’s not going to be a band-aid type of thing to fix this overnight or even in a few months to help children get back to where they were before the pandemic hit.”

Phillip is not the only student who’s made major progress so far. Nick, who lives with his family in the Cleveland area, is also seeing major improvement.

“It has helped me a lot with my reading, and if I have really hard homework, I can just wait until I have my tutor because she helps me really a lot,” the 11-year-old said.

Nick has been on an IEP for about two years. His dad Tom, who asked to keep the family’s last name private, says his son has mostly struggled with reading.

We come from a pretty diverse family,” Tom said. “We have different languages in the house, so all of my boys were a little bit struggling with their reading.”

Tom said, since Nick started working with a tutor through Learning Aid Ohio, he has seen a vast improvement, with skyrocketing test scores and grades. Now, Nick makes straight A’s.

“When we found out that this opportunity would be available in the summer, we were really happy, just to help make up for that time that we lost last year in the spring,” Tom said.

And mom Damaris agrees, adding that it’s hard for parents to take on the extra challenge at home.

“Seeing Nick coming home from school with a lot of confidence, and his self-esteem has really improved because when he sees his grades, he’s very happy that he’s able to catch up with other friends and to know that he’s doing good and everybody is encouraging him and telling him how good he’s doing,” Damaris said. ‘We have seen a big difference.” To find out more information about the program, click here.