Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Labor and Industry
 
Board
Safety and Health Codes Board
 
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6/21/20  4:00 pm
Commenter: Jessica Smith

Masks are a nightmare for kids with special needs.
 

My daughter has dyspraxia and is dyslexic.   She struggles to understand a lot of her school work under normal circumstances but the dyspraxia also causes sensory issues.   The mask is a mild annoyance to most people but for kids with sensory processing disorders they are almost torture.   My daughter simply cannot handle having it on her face and forcing her to wear one has essentially stopped all progress in her physical and occupational therapy sessions because she is so hyper focused on the mask.   She only has to wear out for an hour at a time for therapy and that is more than she can handle.   She also has trouble understanding her therapists with their faces covered and had trouble recognizing familiar people with masks on so that sparks anxiety and has already caused a few panic attacks.   There is absolutely no way she could be successful in school all day if masks are a requirement for teachers or students but because of the profound dyslexia she does not do well with distance or computer based learning and requires some one on one instruction. She is absolutely not the only child in the commonwealth that suffers with this problem and I feel very strongly that we need educational options that do not involve masks or computer based learning in order to keep these children from falling through the cracks. 

CommentID: 81943