During the Corona pandemic, parents of children with disabilities experienced unprecedented situations. The aim of this study was to identify the educational needs and challenges which prevented parents from providing adequate support to their children during the outbreak. An online survey was launched on June 4, 2020, to gather information from 638 parents of children with disabilities. The findings revealed that 60% of parents need assistance in implementing Individual Education Program activities. Similarly, 71.7% of parents reported that the centers had only spent less than one-hour on-line per day educating the children. Significant challenges emerge as a result of parents' inability to cope with the load and their loss of hope in helping children, which varies depending on the severity of the condition, with severe disabilities posing the greatest challenge. According to the study, special education centers should follow defined protocols that focus on parents' educational needs, as well as establish proactive approaches for providing support to parents of children who require special care.

This study aimed to explore parental satisfaction with programmes provided for children with learning difficulties (LD) in Oman. A sample was collected from 299 parents who filled out an electronic self-reporting questionnaire during the second semester of 2021. The researchers designed a 19-item questionnaire that was distributed over two domains: 14 items on parent satisfaction and five items on parent co-operation. The results revealed that parents' overall satisfaction with the effectiveness of the LD programmes in which their children were enrolled was high. The results also indicated statistically significant differences among the mean scores on parents' satisfaction over the age variable groups, in favor of the younger group, followed by the middle group, and lastly the older group. There were also statistically significant differences among the mean scores on parents' satisfaction according to the province locations, in favor of the capital city of Oman, Muscat, and its peripheral provinces, followed by the western provinces, and lastly, the eastern provinces. The study recommends conducting similar studies to investigate the satisfaction of school principals, specialists, teachers and children with LD to determine the effectiveness of Oman's LD programmes.