The declared coronavirus epidemic has severely affected people's lives and together with limiting measures caused a lot of worries to most of the people. The diploma thesis is based on the research of distresses of children with special needs during state of emergency from the point of view of teachers and school counsellors who are trained to work with them. In the research, I was interested in what challenges and hardships had pupils faced during the changes in learning process, especially about distance learning and re-attending school. I researched how pupils from less supporting family environment experienced social distancing during state of emergency and how the process of providing help to children in distress takes place. I wondered how teachers and counsellors identify and address children’s distress and establish inter-institutional cooperation to ensure child’s safety.
In the theoretical part, I introduced the topic of children with special needs and their distresses, which is connected with the topic of the new coronavirus. In the methodological part, I did a qualitative research and presented the results of analysed interviews, which provide answers to research questions. The diploma thesis identifies factors that had stimulated occurrence of new distress or deepened existing distresses of children with special needs. The research confirms that the epidemic had a different impact on children based on various factors present in their environment. Children more exposed to it were vulnerable already before the epidemic, especially children from socio-economically vulnerable families. Research also confirms that the role of the school counsellor is crucial in identifying children’s distresses and in providing initial support. In the last part of the thesis, I summarized the findings of the research and presented suggestions for improvement, especially in the field of identifying distresses of children and access to professional help.
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