[musicmaj]

Hi,
My name is Angie and I have a 3.5 year old dd and a 2.5 year old ds. My dh and I have been planning on homeschooling. My dd is very bright. She loves our "school time" and doing preschool worksheets, projects, stuff that is fun for a child her age. My ds has some developemental delays though. He has some signs of autism, but has not been diagnosed yet. A speech therapist/service coordinator has been coming to our home weekly and working with Wilson. She teaches us how to teach him. We work with him daily. He is learning how to talk and is really making some huge progress now. He has made the most progress with his receptive/social behavior.

I just wonder if I will be able to homeschool him - or if that is the best choice for him. I don't want to make a mistake with this and later regret it. Does anyone have experience homeschooling a child like this?

Thank you,
Angie

 

[lilyka]

someone else started the same thread at the same time you did. here is the link:

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=132202

 

[CerridwenLorelei]

here that homeschool with special needs.
I think there may be a few archived threads and some on the special needs board.

My 7 yr old is PDDNOS/SID

We have been homeschooling him for almost two years now. We had good private therapists ( after I fought the ins and won heh heh) who did wonderful speech and OT therapy with him. And they were supportive of our homeschooling.

For a lot of special needs kids homeschooling is an excellent choice for them.
Do you have some more specific questions and maybe I can help better?

 

[musicmaj]

I guess I was just wondering if my son can get the same needed services like speech therapy and ot, if he is homeschooled. It sounds like you had to go through your insurance to get it. We have state insurance that is really good right now.

One of my fears is that I won't know what to teach him, or how to go about it the right way. It is probably silly though. I have been teaching piano lessons to children for 11 years now and I have taught some children with learning disabilities. Sometimes it takes some creativity to find the best way to teach these children - but it is really rewarding. It must be the same way with homeschooling a special needs child. Do you have special curriculum/activities/lesson plans for your child that caters to their needs? Did you have to come up with that material yourself? Are there any books that can help me know how to teach my child.

Thanks for your advice/help!
Angie

 

[CerridwenLorelei]

I CHOSE to go through insurance to get it because
1) I had just pulled my kids from the district after ten years of carp including refusing IEPs that were put together for both of them
2) the day after I decided they would not go back the district was slapped with a class action lawsuit for dropping required services for special needs kiddos and not honouring section 54
( I never found out how it went but two months ago I met a lady whose child is still in the district and is severe and they have been to Court TWICE to make them follow through on the IEP)
3) I can't speak for your area but in my area you don't want the homeschoolers having to deal with the public school. It creates all kind of bad juju

some people have to deal with their districts because there isn't a choice and that is fine for them

Just not this puppy.
I am so sorry for any confusion I caused you

 

[Openskyheart]

Hi!

I'm a Speech-Language Pathologist. I'm retired now in order to homeschool with my two kids. I worked for 12 years with kids - many of whom were on the autism spectrum. IMO the best life for these kids is the homeschooled life. The best! We worked with both homeschooled and public schooled kids with autism/Asperger's, and the homeschoolers were better off overall. I also worked in a fantastic public school classroom with 8 kids all on the autism spectrum. In 12 years, it was the only classroom of this nature I would agree to work in. Most of them are awful! I wouldn't send my dog to those classrooms.

I am on several homeschooling on-line lists, and know there are many other families who homeschool their kids who are on the spectrum. I have a nephew with Asperger's (12 y.o.), and his mom insists on keeping him in school to help him with his social skills. AAAACH! He's miserable in school, and now has a one to one aide. He's also in 4-H, and his mom told me recently, "You know, he doesn't really have any friends in school, but he's made a couple of really good friends in 4-H." Hmmmm...so he's in school for social reasons, but has no social life with anyone from school.

I encourage you to take on this homeschooling adventure. In school, your child will be labeled, and made to feel different and even stupid for being who he is. He will not gain any beneficial "social skills" there because the teachers/aides/therapists do not have the time, skills, nor inclination to help them with social skills. They do spend a lot of time training them to line up, and sit still in their chairs, and glue and paste things together, and use scissors, and throw a ball, and learn phonics and math facts. But social stuff? Not so much. (I'm really trying to encourage you not to buy into the "social skills" reason for sending him to school! I'm probably going overboard - huh? LOL!).

Laura

 

[juliewol]

Hi,
My son is 13, and has neurofibromatosis. One of the symptoms can be learning difficulties.

I believe that homeschooling is best for him. There is no way he would get the individual attention he needs in our public schools. We work at his speed - the things he's good at, like math, we do quickly. Reading and writing take longer, and that's ok.

He had speech therapy when he was younger. We used a college here. They have a clinic for students getting their master's, and they were all very competent. It cost much less than someone in private practice. It may be worth checking to see if there's a similar program in your area.