'They feel like they're failing their children' | Special needs families struggle during school closures

ST. LOUIS — Schools across Missouri will remain closed for the school year, and Gov. Mike Parson has instructed remote learning to continue.

But for parents of children with special needs, it’s easier said than done.

Amber Babb is a fifth grade teacher in Jefferson County and a single mom of two. Her 8-year-old daughter Lillie has a rare condition called Pallister-Killian syndrome.

“She’s non-verbal, but she can say so much with her sounds and her looks and her expressions,” Babb said.

RELATED: Missouri public and charter schools closed for rest of school year

Lillie requires a routine of physical, occupational, speech and vision therapy – all things her mom is trying to keep up with from home while also juggling work. Babb said some regression may be inevitable.

"I can already see in three weeks now that she's starting to get pretty stubborn about working with me because I'm not the person who's normally pushing her to that level,” she said.

But Babb said protecting her daughter, who's high-risk for COVID-19, is more important right now.

Therapists are doing what they can from afar.

"We help people, and we’re being sidelined because to keep everybody safe, we can't go into somebody's home who has a medically fragile child and possibly give them COVID,” Julie Grana said.

Grana is an occupational therapist who works in St. Louis. She’s trying to be there for her families to provide emotional support over the phone, but she said it's just not the same.

"They feel like they're failing their children. They feel like they're failing as parents. They feel like they're failing in life right now,” Grana said.

RELATED: Watch: Teen with special needs walks out of hospital after recovering from COVID-19

Teachers know the struggle parents face.

"They don't have all those tools in the toolbox that teachers have,” Molly Raines-Evans said.

Evans teaches special education at Buder Elementary and also has children with individualized education programs. She’s dropped off learning materials at her students' doors.

"We all want to be with the kids right now, and we're all trying so hard,” she said.

They’re making it work and trying to embrace the work.

“I'm getting this amazing time with them that I would never have otherwise,” Babb said.

And in time, she knows the teachers and therapists will be waiting with open arms to pick up where they left off.