LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — More than 300,000 students are back in school across Clark County, but many parents are unsure if their child is ready for the challenge of a new school year after last year’s distance learning challenges.

“She was online for most of the year. My daughter doesn’t learn well in that format, I found that she was getting behind very quickly,” said parent Edna Nyang. “She had difficulty being able to determine what task needed to be done on a daily basis. It was hard.”

Enda Nyang is as most parents across the valley — struggling to help their child get through class online during the pandemic.

Many students have been frustrated learning new math topics, reading concepts or even science projects.

“I did not like it at all,” said Edna’s daughter, Gabriela. “It was hard, and it was challenging.”

This school year is like no other because on top of the summer slide — the loss of skills kids picked up during the previous school year — there is now the COVID slide.

“With COVID, that slide has been accelerated exponentially,” said John Hackman with the Huntington Learning Center. “Not only did they experience not being in school for a much longer period of time. Even when they had the remote learning opportunities, it really didn’t make up for being in school.”

Academic experts at Huntington Learning Center say kids are coming in two years behind. Some first graders are unable to read and there are kindergarteners who don’t know the alphabet.

“A student in third grade and beyond who can’t read and comprehend is just really going to struggle,” said John Hackman.

“We get a lot of third graders in here. They can read and they read very fast, then you ask them the comprehension questions they have no idea what they read,” added Eda Hackman with Huntington Learning Center.

John and Eda Hackman say reach out for professional help soon. If you have any doubt, extensive evaluation is needed to pinpoint your child’s gaps.

“It’s going to take that stress off of you. As parents we have so many responsibilities,” said Edna Nyang. “There is no way we can wear several hats. I mean we try, but we don’t do that good of a job.”

The Hackman’s also say tutoring can help a child’s emotional health. Academic success can relieve the anxiety, building their self-confidence.

For Gabriela, the sessions have made a difference. Now she is the one helping classmates.

“it’s nice. It’s passing kindness to another,” Gabriela said.