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E-Learning Expands for Special-Needs Students

Tessa Falcetta, a rising 8th grader who lives in Grove City, Pa., has taken online classes in the past and will be taking them again when she starts school in the fall. Tessa has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dysgraphia, and general anxiety disorder.

—Jason Cohn for Education Week

By Nirvi Shah

When Seph Koutsioukis was in a classroom at an elementary school in Simpsonville, S.C., he floundered.

For Seph, who has autism, on-the-spot questions from teachers were a source of embarrassment. He was easily distracted by the sights and sounds in the colorful, occasionally loud room.

But for two years, 10-year-old Seph has taken online classes through the South Carolina Connections Academy , a charter school based in Columbia, S.C. He watches lessons on his home computer and talks with his teachers...