Cranford Mom Says: Let Special Needs Kids Back Into School

CRANFORD, NJ — Cranford resident Jenn Love's daughter Emma, 18, has been attending the same special needs school in Monmouth County every weekday since she was two and a half — until all New Jersey schools closed in March, with little guidance on how to help the students who need hands-on therapy from various professionals. Emma's mom says her teenager, who is autistic, nonverbal, and has epilepsy, doesn't understand that her teachers on Zoom are her real-life teachers, or what's happening.

"She's a very sweet-natured happy child who now cries daily," Jenn said last week, from her Cranford home. "When we do Zoom, she cries for hours afterward. She can see their faces but she can't put two and two together. She misses them [her teachers and therapists]."

She added, "This [coronavirus crisis] is unreal for most of us. Imagine for someone like her. She just never went back to school and she has no idea why."

Besides her lessons, Emma's teachers at the The Children's Center in Neptune teach her life skills and give her occupational therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy, and special therapy designed for autistic children. The campus has 10 buildings with a nurse in each one.

"What have they taught her is mostly life-skill oriented," Jenn said. "Brushing her teeth, things you and I take for granted. It's learned over a long period of time. She also has a lot of tactile issues with brushing her teeth, brushing her hair. They work daily to desensitize her."

Jenn, who also has a 25-year-old son who teaches, said her daughter can communicate with her via an iPad in four- and five word sentences, to ask for things like French toast.

But Emma has been backsliding. Jenn said that a year and a half of progress has been undone by her being home for three months.

Jenn manages a real estate office in Westfield full-time with 95 agents. As she works from home, she has had to coax her daughter along to do her virtual lessons. She said the teachers have been helpful and would like to return to teaching on their campus, but can't.

"My husband and I have spent nights rotating who sleeps in her room to get her to calm down," Jenn said. "We do our best at teaching her, but we are not licensed in the field."

Jenn said her daughter's school has only eight students per class. Some autistic kids, she notes, are by nature solitary and tend to like to social distance.

Even if most schools haven't reopened, she believes the governor should open the Extended School Year (ESY) programs that allow special needs students to attend school in the summer.

On Friday, Gov. Phil Murphy said that day cares and camps will be able to open on June 15 and July 6, respectively, with safety restrictions. But what about ESY?

Jenn said most officials haven't gotten back to her or have only given her platitudes like "We need to flatten the curve." She said Assemblyman John Bramnick has been helpful and has passed messages to the governor's office, but she's waiting for an earnest response.

She understood the need to close for a time, but thinks it has gone on too long.

"One of my agents, a good friend, has two boys with autism," she said. "Imagine how horrific this is for our children. If they needed knee replacements, they could get occupational therapy. But because it's part of their school, they can't."

The situation is also frustrating for her because state legislators were about to introduce Emma's Law, named for Jenn's daughter. The law would ensure that buses for special needs students are equipped with GPS tracking and other equipment to help keep the students safe, after special needs students have been accidentally left on school buses. Read more about Emma's Law here.

"We did what we were told to do for the greater good of everyone," Jenn said. "But it's time to reopen."

Jenn has heard that some special needs parents have been asked to sign waivers that they won't hold a school system liable for problems as they conduct therapy at home. She said it's a sure sign that these therapies should be conducted by trained experts.

Jenn said if schools reopen, she's not sure her daughter would wear a mask if she asked her to, but she would do so if her teachers asked her to.

"They can get her to do things I can't get her to do," she said. "That's how good they are."

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