Homeschooling special needs children

[cenicienta]

Hi All!

I am considering pulling my six year old with autism out of public school and homeschooling him. Have any of you homeschooled special needs children? What are some good materials out there for teaching a child with special needs?

Thanks,
Jen

[millky]

I have never experienced teaching children with additional needs and I'm not sure how the school system in the U.S. caters for these children, but if you're thinking of homeschooling your son you would need to make sure of a few things first.

1. Obviously as his parent you know him best as a person. Make sure you also know specifically what strategies for learning work best with him. Is he verbal or not? Does he use or respond to picture cards? Any specific areas where he shines or has difficulty? etc

2. What is his situation at school now? Who teaches him, is it working, and most importantly, can you do a better job and how?

3. Would you be doing this on your own, or would you have people at your disposal to assist you (like a behavioural therapist or a special ed teacher or whoever might be involved with your son's education presently, even just more family who know him well)

4. Will homeschooling your son cause more or less disruption to his life or routine? If he is very used to going to school maybe you could gradually introduce the concept of staying home.

Like I said, you're the parent and you know what is best for him. Just some things to think about if you haven't. It's a big responsibility but I reckon it could be really rewarding too. Pray about it, ask God to show you the best way to go.

[Cookies4me]

I'm sure there are some parents on the board who homeschool their special needs children.

Hslda has this wonderful website as well.

http://www.hslda.org/strugglinglearner/

[topekaclark]

I'm sure there are some parents on the board who homeschool their special needs children.

Hslda has this wonderful website as well.

http://www.hslda.org/strugglinglearner/

You bet me too it.....:lol2 also in the homeschooling books I read special needs children flourish at home.

[BusyMommy]

Here is a great book on work tasks for children with autism: How Do I Teach This Kid? Visual Work Tasks for Beginning Learners on teh Autism Spectrum by Kimberly A. Henry. Easy to make task boxes...generally used with beginning learners and helps in the development of independence. I used this when I was doing ABA therapy and our team thought they worked great with the child we were working with.

[Craigs4CHRIST]

Hello,

I just wanted to jump in and give my $.02 on homeschooling a special needs child.

I've been homeschooling my son (who had a stroke as a neonate) since he was six, when I realized the he wasn't really learning anything in Special Ed. kindergarten (It's been 11yrs, now, he's almost 16).

The thing that I feel has been most effective in helping him has been having him memorize Scripture (we do it by setting Scripture to different songs); and making sure that we have Bible time every day. I know that sounds simplistic; but that's what I believe has helped him to excel high above anyone's original expectations.

There are a lot of great curriculums for Special Needs children. One lady I know, who has an autistic child, is a big fan of "Semple Math", and the "Stevenson" method for Language Arts. Apparently those curriculums have helped her son to achieve far more than was expected.

The curriculum I use and love (for Language Arts and Math) is CHRISTian Light Education. Everything is presented in a "spiral method", where they see the information again and again...............It also is a few years 'ahead' of the Public School system. By this I mean that although my guys are working at level 5, that would be the equivalent of public school's level 7.

I hope that this information was helpful, and not overwhelming. The most important thing to do right now is pray; and not let yourself become overwhelmed by all of the options out there. I've found in my years of homeschooling that it's best to just keep things simple.

Be blessed,
Lynn

[CircleSlide]

We have a son who is Autistic, we have tired several routes, public school (disaster), private Christian school (they kicked him out), and homeschooling. My son is 13 and tests in 2/3rd grade for grammar/writing/spelling, math 4/5th grade, reading is 5/6th level. History he is high school level.

We use unit studies to learn with, since I know my son and what works for him, he is visual and a tactile learner, we have many hands on and try to immerse our self in what we are studying. My son is a history buff so he reads history books, and probably knows more about WWII than I do. He does not like to read fiction so this is hard for him but he would much rather read picture heavy history books, or even science books.

I also have two other so called "normal" lol girls, so as not to put so much stress on me we all try to do the unit studies together but of course their work has to be more advanced, in certain subject, so some time this can get a little touchy with him because he is the middle child and wants to stay ahead of his younger sister. Like with math he is on the same level as his little sister.

So I guess my advice would be to know your son, you being the mom probably already have a good idea what works for him and what doesn't. Like for me workbooks don't really teach my son anything. When we tried workbooks he made it his whole goal to get it done before anyone else not really caring if it was learned or done correctly. Of course this would be a battle then for him to correct it because he felt like he had lost the race to get it done then this would lead to frustration on his part and he would pretty much melt down. But for others workbooks might work, such as my oldest, she does well with them.

So what are we using, Learning Adventures, but then again I am fitting it to fit his needs. I could probably write a book on what we went through with our son, it was literally a nightmare and we were going down a very dark road, but lets just say he is a different child than the one we had two years ago, he is amazing with his change and it can only be God's doing!!!

[cenicienta]

Thank you for all of your advice! Sorry that it has taken me so long to respond. My husband and I have prayed for God's will in our situation. It sometimes takes a while, but God always comes through in His time and not mine. My son is just not progressing in public school first grade. In fact, he is regressing in some respects. I truly believe that he is getting more out of working with his ABA therapists rather than what he gets in school. My son has been absent a lot from public school this year. In fact, my husband and I were called in this week for a conference on why my son has been so sick. I think that between a full day of public school and 4 hours every evening after school of ABA therapy, his little body has reached its limit. It makes my heart ache to see him so unhappy.

That being said, my husband and I feel that homeschooling is in our little guy's best interest. We are in Wisconsin. I have researched a little on homeschooling and apparently Wisconsin in one of the states that is pretty homeschool friendly. We still will have our ABA therapists coming in everyday to work with our son for 20 hours a week, but I think that homeschooling will at least lower my son's stress level so that our school time will be more productive and meaningful for him.

I have so much to learn myself about homeschooling. I am so glad that I have all of you to help me along.

Thanks!