Educational Attention to Students with Special Educational Needs in Mexico during the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic left sequelae that worsened the academic attention of students with special educational needs in Mexico. In this research article, an investigation was conducted to inquire into some of the situations that special education professionals faced before and during the pandemic and to reflect on the relevance of keeping special education schools operational. Moreover, a descriptive study was carried out involving 1,207 special education professionals (419 from the Centers of Multiple Attention [CAM] and 788 from the Unities of Support Services for the Regular Education [USAER]), who responded to a questionnaire that inquired about certain conditions they faced while working with students before and during the pandemic. The researchers discovered that the students attended by USAER faced the same difficult situations as students without special educational needs during the pandemic, and their academic learning was equally affected. On the other hand, students from CAM were less affected. The results are likely because the students served by USAER face greater academic demands, while, in the care offered by the CAM, there are still influences of the medical model and, therefore, fewer academic demands; in addition, when studying in small groups, there is a very close treatment by the teachers. It is recommended that, as long as regular schools strive and secure the resources to provide quality education to all pupils, special schools should continue to function.