Story of their Lives: Lived Experiences of Parents of Children with Special Needs Amidst the Pandemic

The pandemic has caused changes in the educational system of the country that affected everyone, including children with special needs and their parents. This study aimed to explore the challenges and coping strategies of the parents of children with special needs in modular distance learning. The six parents served as the participants of this study and were chosen using the purposive sampling technique. This qualitative study used a phenomenological approach, and the collected data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings underscored the following themes for the challenges: strapped for time in teaching at home, out of depth in facilitating learning, difficulty in engrossing the minds of children, and struggle in making children write. To cope with the mentioned challenges, parents are collaborating and taking teachers' advice, seizing the perfect mood of their children, embracing their child's individuality, and keeping their faith against all odds. Considering the result of the study, the Department of Education may review its educational plan to support children with special needs and provide additional support to the parents, especially in this new normal. Further, future researchers may examine the effectiveness of modular distance learning in meeting the learning needs of children with special needs.