Are you HS'ing your special needs child?

[bdavis337]

Specifically a young child with autism? I'd love to hear about it.

My son is 4 1/2 and will graduate from public preschool this spring, being moved to Kinder. He's "high" on the spectrum - verbal, affectionate, opinionated, excitable, anxious, rigid, intelligent..... - I'm already hs'ing my 3rd grader and am still unsure of what to do with Boy #2 for next fall. I'm unsure of my own ability to juggle both children at once, I'm worried about being able to meet my son's need for different learning methods, etc.

But I'm toying with the idea.

[Stephenie]

We're just doing preschool stuff now, but I am homeschooling (and will continue to homeschool) my son with SPD .I think his needs will be better met at home (he's a sensory seeker with auditory processing issues, so he runs around nonstop and doesn't like a lot of noise... unless he is the one making, then he makes too much) so I see the classroom as being a pretty big challenge for him. He doesn't do well in situations with lots of other kids, either. His OT's think it's a good idea as at home he can have as many breaks as he needs to run around etc and more and more schools are cutting back on recess these days. Plus he can get what he needs when he needs it.

For now, homeschooling is very loose as he's not quite three and we have unschool-ish tendencies anyway, but he's doing really well. We read a lot and he already knows all his letters and even can read some words (and I swear we don't push- how could you with a kid who doesn't' like to sit still?) We do lots of arts and crafts and try to incorporate sensory play in our day. We're all happy so far.

Probably not super helpful, because we're in different situations, but mostly I wanted to point out how much encouragement I have from his Ot's to keep him at home. Hope it helps some.

[mykdsmomy]

I'm hs'ing all four of our kiddos and two have special needs. My youngest has an alphabet soup mix of dx's .
What type of curriculum are you thinking of using? Does he have attention deficit at all? Is he getting other services at school besides OT?

You know your child best and what environment he would thrive in. It's hard when we feel like we're going against the grain so I can empathize with you on that one.

[lotusdebi]

My 7 year old has high-functioning autism, SPD (primarily sensory-seeking), and probably ADHD or ADD. We were unschooling until this year. He started getting bored and his behaviors were worsening, so I decided to try structured homeschooling this year (eclectic). It's going pretty well! I still get a lot of resistance - he's very oppositional. But, he's making progress and his self-confidence is increasing. He's on supplements (GABA, Magnesium) which have helped with a lot of his behavioral issues and anxieties. I'm not sure I'd be able to keep this up without the supplements - it's really hard a lot of the time. I have to be in-tune with him to make sure things go more smoothly. He also gets much-needed OT twice a week. He has a weighted lap-pad which is sometimes necessary to keep him focused on his work. He's very easily distracted, which is very frustrating.

I'm having a hard time meeting my 2 year old's needs while also homeschooling my 7 year old. My 2 year old ends up getting more tv than I'd like because there's little else I can do with him during that period. I really hope that it'll be easier next year. Maybe he'll sit with us and do some preschool workbooks or something during that time. I expect to have my 7 year old do more independent work next year as well, and hope he won't need me to be there to bring his attention back to his studies all the time. We'll see...

Hope that helps you somewhat. It's not easy. But,I try to keep in mind that dealing with endless fights over IEPs and school bullying and all that stuff isn't exactly ideal either.

[Momma Aimee]

subbing.

[heatherdeg]

My now 6yo son just had his ASD dx lifted 2 months ago and we've been hsing him since he was 4-1/2.

To be honest, we believe more heavily in the pedagogy that holds off academics until 7 or 8yo. At the same time, he had a wicked interest in math, was already reading and really needed structure. He's also a social animal.

What worked best for us that first year (albeit expensive) was lots of enrichment classes. Swimming, an arts class (music, art & stand-up stories), a play-based drama class plus a weekly playground gathering of other homeschoolers. It was REALLY good. We also did Saxon math (mercifully short lessons that are manipulatives based--people either love Saxon or hate it... search this forum if you want to research). Plus he had OT & ST at the school.

We're in year 2 now and I know it was the best thing. That being said, we are not able to do as many enrichment activities due to other things going on in our lives. And OT at the school prompts a lot of "I want to go to school". So that's hard. To be honest, it takes some figuring out to know what's going to work with him and what isn't; but it's really no different than when I was a public school teacher. In fact, it's easier because he's one student (the only at the moment as dd is only 16mo) instead of 1 in 24.

And heaven knows there's support... online if not in person. I think the best thing of all is that I've been on-hand to witness the social interactions and mishaps so I can work with him while it's fresh in his mind and with all of the actual information (vs. what the teacher missed/saw or what he remembers). It's made a huge difference in his little personality.

[bdavis337]

Thanks! Lotus - that's what I'm very worried about. Being able to parent my other two children AND get everyone educated while Mark is at home. He takes up 110% of my time when we're just at home playing and hanging out. When he's home while his brother is doing school, OMG. And I do have a 2 1/2 year old son as well who is fairly demanding in the usual toddler ways. My 3rd grader is borderline adhd, has a host of sensory issues and, were he to be in the school system, would be in the gifted program. I feel overwhelmed just thinking about it, tbh. And what you described with your son is what I anticipate with mine - resistance, obstinance, tons of sensory work. I'm not sure I can do that AND handle my other kids as well.

I worry primarily about being able to help Mark learn to read and write, add and subtract. I can't figure out how he learns but he's definetly not a conventional learner. He just sort of absorbs it from the air around him but once he's got the basics he drops the concept totally and can't be drawn back to it.

Heather, : Saxon math has been the bane of my experience to date! Perhaps it's just b/c my oldest is so bored with it and it's so incredibly repetitive, but I can't stand yet another minute of it. We're literally flying through it and I'm supplementing with Miquon and some other things. But for Mark, the repetitive structure will be good AND bad. He'll hate having to do review for any purpose b/c once he's learned something he won't revisit it willingly. I'm going to need something else for Mark - Saxon is NOT happening! :

Mykds - you brought him home!!!! When did that happen? Did he transition well to being back at home with you? I'm so glad to read that you've been able to do that.

[heatherdeg]

Originally Posted by bdavis337

Heather, : Saxon math has been the bane of my experience to date! Perhaps it's just b/c my oldest is so bored with it and it's so incredibly repetitive, but I can't stand yet another minute of it. We're literally flying through it and I'm supplementing with Miquon and some other things.

You must be doing the "meeting" part in addition to the "lesson" part because the meeting part IS very repetitive, but I haven't found the lesson parts to be so bad. And if you're flying through it, I'm wondering if you did a placement test. We did the placement test and ds was borderline between K & 1st. I went K and I'm glad I did because there were things in there ds really didn't know at all (like money and time) but because he was so close, we DO fly through it. He also likes math and has a short attention span--so the short lessons are good for us. I find they only repeat lessons (with increasing difficulty) 2-3 times through the year. Four at most (and that's over a whole year). That being said, I haven't gotten past first grade with it.

BUT... we do NOT do the meeting part. I'm almost sorry about not doing some of it in the K level so he learned the calendar.

We supplement with Core Knowledge's "What Your X Grader Needs to Know" book and "Hands On Math" series of books although not much.

[bdavis337]

I didn't placement test him. I pulled him from 3rd grade private school at the end of Oct last year and we just started in where he left off. Saxon is the curriculum of choice for that school, I found a home version on Ebay and off we went. We skip the meeting unless it includes things that are related to current work - this week we're doing squares and square roots so the meeting activity that has you naming the perfect squares between 1-100 was applicable. I also "X" through all the problems on the worksheets that he just doesn't need to do anymore. For instance, he doesn't need any practice telling him to the nearest 15 minutes, counting money, expanded notation, ordinal numbers, etc. So we skip those. I'm using Miquon to supplement and he LOVES it b/c he gets to do a lot of mental math and think in different directions. Once you get to 3rd grade with Saxon you might notice that the daily worksheets still have review from K and 1. I understand the concept of spiral review but it's just too much for him and was preventing us from moving on to the stuff he's truly interested in.

[mykdsmomy]

Originally Posted by bdavis337

Mykds - you brought him home!!!! When did that happen? Did he transition well to being back at home with you? I'm so glad to read that you've been able to do that.

Awwww you remembered Yep, we brought him home three weeks into the school year. It was obvious that it wasn't going to work. I should have just trusted my instinct from day 1 and could have avoided some heartache......It's still hard and I need to start a thread on the challenges we are facing right now...but I know he's better off at home

[earthmama369]

I have one child with a medical special need (epipen) and another with SPD. Both are currently homeschooled, although we are exploring our options for public or private school for our youngest (age 3.5). I'm also exploring ways to keep him home and meet his needs.

He has a variable-type SPD, meaning that he fluctuates a lot and his needs can be hard to predict, though he leans more toward sensory seeking than avoiding. Audio filtering is a big component and the hardest for him (and us) to handle. There just isn't as much research or therapy options for that component and it's the biggest part of what makes him uncomfortable in group settings.

We're in the middle of an evaluation through the public school system and after having to pull him out of all group activities because he was so uncomfortable and upset last fall, I was flabbergasted when he visited their preK program twice and had a marvelous time. No issues transitioning, having other kids or adults in his space, no stimming or problems with focusing and participating, and he was HAPPY. It was both thrilling and humbling.

It seems that the classroom atmosphere was ideal for him -- visually very stimulating and audibly very quiet. There were 7 kids and 3 adults. It was also very structured. We've approached our homeschooling in a loose, eclectic, unschooling manner and while that works well for me, and well for dd, it would seem that this is not the approach for ds.

Our options seem to be public preK, Montessori preK, or restructuring how we do things at home and trying to find group homeschool activities that suit him better. No matter what we choose, it's going to be a big change.

[bdavis337]

Earthmama, my son also does much better in a highly structured environmnet and his preschool class is the perfect place for him. Sadly, Kindy isn't going to be as forgiving or as friendly - his current teacher only uses half the flourescents lights b/c she knows it bothers a lot of her kids, she has most of her room carpeted, a big sensory corner to go hide out and get back on track, etc.

[sbgrace]

Originally Posted by bdavis337

I can't figure out how he learns but he's definetly not a conventional learner. He just sort of absorbs it from the air around him but once he's got the basics he drops the concept totally and can't be drawn back to it.

I think Andrew and Mark came out of the same pod or something!

We're homeschooling. I teach the boys one at a time for the most part. Andrew can be absorbed in his trains so that gives me time with Caleb though and maybe Mark doesn't get to that level of absorption with things.

We're doing RightStart math and that seems good fit wise so far. Andrew has extremely poor attention so that's the hardest thing here. But in a school setting (our schools anyway) it would be an absolute disaster.

[heatherdeg]

Originally Posted by bdavis337

Once you get to 3rd grade with Saxon you might notice that the daily worksheets still have review from K and 1. I understand the concept of spiral review but it's just too much for him and was preventing us from moving on to the stuff he's truly interested in.

Hmmm... like I said: haven't got past 1st grade yet, but worksheets would make me insane. And right now, revisiting a topic 2-3 times/year is tolerable (and welcome since it's harder each time). I'm not sure we'll do well if it becomes a "worksheet program".

I'm actually finally finding Montessori math materials and a curriculum (I've been looking for 2 years--apparently in all the wrong places). Hoping that works out for us if Saxon becomes a problem.