Anyone here homeschool a kid w/ an ASD?

[wendy1221]

Just wondering.

[feebeeglee]

Me!



Bede's autistic and would be entering preK this fall by conventional standards, I think? He'll be 5 next March.

We've always homeschooled (unschooled) and I never thought of doing anything else just because Bede was autistic. We love it!

[dianamerrell]

we already homeschool, and will for my son who has autism.

[krissi]

We're about to be homeschooling. We've given up on ever reaching agreement with our UA violation local school district adminstrators. We always planned to homeschool at kindergarten or first grade but it seems we'll be starting early. We're probably going to use a cyber-school because I'm too disorganized to plan a curriculum and also because we are currently planning a permanent move to Sweden, where homeschooling is tightly regulated (I think being enrolled in an accredited distance learning school will help us get through the bureaucratic hurdles).

[Jillybean]

I am Zekie would be entering K this fall. I'm excited and a little nervous.

[fluttermama]

Yes!

[AuntLavender]

My oldest is 10 years 8 mos and has Asperger's

He needs to ride his bike before he can do any kind of seatwork. He doesn't like unit studies because he likes predictability and repetition. I have used those workbook/textbooks in one with him like Alpha Omega and also Saxon Math for algebra and he does it without fussing.

He needs to have frequent potty/refreshment breaks. He also does well with figit tools. He likes science experiments but often wants to just watch me do it so Science DVDs are a terrific gift for him.

He likes computer games and programs like Lego Chess, Zoo Tycoon, Scrabble, and I Spy Spooky Mansiona and I Spy Fantasy and Mavis Beacon Typing.

His handwriting is terrible but so much improved from when we started 5 years ago that I let him use a manual typewriter for longer projects.

I'm not sure what kind of information you're looking for so I hope I provided a tiny snapshot of my oldest. My youngest is 100% different and I feel like a new homeschooling mama again even though I started in 2002!

Sincerely,
Debra, homeschooling mom of 4 ages 10 1/2 (AS), 9 1/2, 7 1/2, and 4 (Apraxia, Dysarthria, HFA)

[wendy1221]

Thanks, Debra! Your post was really helpfull. I was just kinda taking a rollcall, but your ds sounds just like mine. We just started, and we're using Calvert, but I've already figured out a lot about him, and have cut out a lot of the "required" writing.

What do you use for figits?

[meowee]

Yes... he is 10 1/2, so smart, obsessed with video games, very quirky... a walking history encyclopedia but his handwriting looks like a kindergartener's... but he types faster than I do... lol you get the idea!

[wendy1221]

Damien's handwriting looks prfect, but it takes him 10 minutes to write one sentence. ANd that's if I tell him what to write. He's giving me a monologue on villagers from Age of Empires right now as I type. lol

[crazycat]

We do - our son turned six this past June so this is the first year we have had to actually file the exemption form with our district. He is considered quite low functioning, but is amazing us almost daily with things we thought he did not know or couldn't do - I was unsure if I was making the right decision when we pulled him out of preschool a year and a half ago, but now I am so glad we did!!

[AuntLavender]

Well my youngest was born with birth defects on his hands

Originally Posted by wendy1221

Thanks, Debra! Your post was really helpfull. I was just kinda taking a rollcall, but your ds sounds just like mine. We just started, and we're using Calvert, but I've already figured out a lot about him, and have cut out a lot of the "required" writing.

What do you use for figits?

and his fingers are really short and weak and he only has 4 fingers a 2 thumbs (and one thumb is non opposable and finger like) so the figits are supposed to be for him but...

any kind of koosh type ball esp with the longer *hairs*, anything that you can squeeze or something that not to annoyingly clicks like a "tangle". Basically anything from a therapy shop's OT dept (you can find this stuff at places like Target if you know what you are looking for).

*I'm laughing at the monologue descriptives. Mine reads "Road & Track" and "Popular Science" and "Popular Mechanics" so I'll let your imagination run as to what his monologues are! LOL! It's really nice to hear others mention this as sometimes I feel like my son is the only one who does this!

[ollijsmama]

We are just in the diagnosis process with ds, but we are considering homeschooling (we were thinking about it before we had any idea he had developmental issues). I love the idea and many days I think it would be in his best interest, but am deeply intimidated. I'm not sure I'm up to it.

[noahparthasmom]

Hi, this is my first post on the board, but I've been lurking for awhile.

We just notified my son's teacher a few days ago that we're going to pull him out. He has severe autism and is nonverbal and also has mild cerebral palsy. He's been in public school preschool for 3 years and is due to start Kindergarten next month. We pulled him out mainly because he was always sick during the school year and he also has terrible sleep issues - and I always had to pass him over (still asleep) to his teacher at 7:45 each morning. He also has multiple food allergies and we've just started a rotation diet and I knew it'd be too difficult to pack a homemade lunch, homemade breakfast and two homemade snacks each day - and he'd be throwing a fit on "French Fry Friday" and trying to grab everyone's food.

The main reason, though, is because for the last 3 years he has only mastered 5 IEP goals (all recess) and they still are working with him on stacking two blocks on top of each other. He was labeled at a 9-12 month level. Well, we just started a new therapy in Austin at a place called HALO which works with nonverbal kids. It turns out Noah's really smart and we were able to witness him making choices between answers which let us see that he can count to 70, answer questions from a book, talk about feelings, complete sentences, etc. So we decided to work with him at home and he's already thriving so much more.

I'm not saying that homeschool is the best option for all kids who have autism. I'm the only one in a group of friends who homeschools a child who has SN. But for my child, it was the right decision.

Good luck!

Leslie
Mom to Noah (5) and Eli (3)

[Bensmommy]

ME!

Just started HS ds who is somewhere on the spectrum (official dx is Multisystem Developmental Disorder but I'm leaning towards HFA or Aspergers). We're currently doing "Teach your Child to read in 100 easy lessons" and doing well- started in HOF but it was way too annoying. Also just bought Saxon Math Kindergarten with manipulatives- will start that this fall.

We're glad we've switched to HS- he's way too distractable in a classroom and this way we can be more relaxed and taylored to his needs while still advancing his knowledge. At this point we've decided to take it year by year. This year is kindergarten and we're HS. We'll decide about next year when it rolls around

[celestialdreamer]

My dd has HFA (probably Asperger's, we aren't seeking a written diagnosis at this time) and we are going to be homeschooling her. I had planned on homeschooling her but through the process of twice a week therapies, weekly Early Intervention, etc we ended up being pushed into the school system for evaluation. We ended up deciding that developmental preschool would NOT be good for her and chose to set up a coop preschool with a few other families that are like-minded and have similar aged kids. I do homeschool type activities with her at home (which she LOVES) and we meet up with the coop preschool once a week. She's still in OT for her severe sensory issues.

Its been absolutely amazing for her and I'm so glad I trusted my instincts. She went from not being able to even look at the kids and lining up toys while they played, to now trying to follow what they are doing and join in. She still doesn't know how to really initiate and sustain social language, but I can definitely see that coming. That was one of the main things why the developmental pediatrician and her therapists wanted her in the preschool - to learn social cues and language because she doesn't seem to pick them up naturally.

I really love the idea of "unschooling" but I know for Anna that is not the best approach. She thrives with routine and is very "concrete". She is doing wonderful with unit studies and it really seems to fit her learning style. She learns best by learning in "multi-modal" approach as her OT calls it. So unit studies fit that really well and she's actually quite ahead of where everyone thought she'd be. I'm glad that we are able to cater to her strengths with homeschooling. She's still really young so I'm excited to see how things work for her as she hit grade school age. At this point I don't worry about the "book smart" stuff because she seems to pick that up easily, I worry more about her learning to integrate herself into a world that sees things very differently than she does. I think setting up a community for her like we have done is probably the very best thing we can do for her.

Sorry to have written such a novel!

[wendy1221]

Don't worry about writing too much!

Damien also thrives with routines and schedules. We're doing Calvert School 3rd grade this year. He seems to like it so far. We started 2 weeks ago.

[mom3b1?]

I did. I intended to homeschool all of my children up to college, but then things happened and I had to send them to public school.

I homeschooled my aspi boy until third grade, at which time I became a single mom and had to work to support and keep custody of the kids. I tried to unschool as much as I could in an environment hostile to it. My aspie son wasn't picking up reading naturally, so I tried several curriculum packages. Phonics completely baffled him. There was a disconnect in his brain that did not allow him to see the relationship between sound and symbol. He was able to memorize the alphabet by name but not sound, and the idea of sounding out words just made him cry. It seemed like nothing would ever get through to him. He was my first so I wasn't sure if I was doing something wrong, or not, but I read up, consulted with experienced moms and professionals and it seemed I was doing things "right."

Something just clicked for him the summer before he started started third grade in public school. Because he was homeschooled they tested him to see where he was, and said he was at a 6th grade level. He'd only been reading, really reading, for a few months!

On the other hand, he came up with Algebra concepts while we were cooking, at the age of four. He demanded answers to math questions all the time. I couldn't not teach him math.

All this isn't to say Aspie kids read late, but spectrum kids can be pretty divergent, obviously. If you hit a snag like we did, work on what he can do, and come back to it. Eventually his brain will probably be ready and he'll catch up, maybe even excel. If not, trying to force it isn't going to get you anywhere fast, in my experience. Just go at his pace.

Despite the challenges, we LOVED it. I think that letting my son learn at home until he was older made a world of difference for him.

Hugs!

Kiley

[paganmum]

Another HS'er here!

Will talk more later when not wrestling the littlest.

[SandyBeachBums]

Originally Posted by wendy1221

Damien's handwriting looks prfect, but it takes him 10 minutes to write one sentence. ANd that's if I tell him what to write. He's giving me a monologue on villagers from Age of Empires right now as I type. lol

You meant Gibran right...lol...my son loves that game.

We homeschool, too. We have tried public school twice with our oldest. Once because I was so very tired and having a hard time with him. Then again last year. He developed some coping mechanisms that were just so very sad and the being bullied just didn't teach him anything about being properly socialized.

He needs to have lots of breaks, routines, and stimulating conversation. We just moved so we need to find new friends. I'm hoping to find some Aspie's.