The lived experience of educators of mentally retardedelementary school students of e -learning in the era of Covid-19:a qualitative study

Following the changes in education after the covid-19 pandemic, teachers of students with mental disabilities received different experiences. The aim of the present study was to investigate the lived experience of educators of intellectually disabled students from electronic education during the Covid-19 era.

This study was of qualitative type using phenomenological method. Data were collected through unstructured interviews and analyzed by Smith's method. The population of this research was all teachers of exceptional schools in Karaj city. Sampling was done purposefully and with 20 people.

An in-depth analysis of the teachers' views led to the identification and classification of 11 main themes, 27 sub-themes and 55 primary codes, some of which are considered strengths (parents being informed about the educational process, constant access to students, easy communication between students and the promotion of instructors) and some others as weaknesses (decreasing student and instructor concentration, student inability to use teaching tools, lack of special educational requirements for students with mental disabilities, energy-consuming virtual education, difficulty in measuring learning, communication problems with parents and problems personal and family for the coach) were introduced.

By combining the strengths of face-to-face and online education, an effective step can be taken in improving the quality of learning of intellectually disabled students. In addition, when necessary, it is necessary to design a special electronic system for this category of students.