Four years ago we made the choice to pull my autistic son out of public schools and put him into homeschooling. (By we I mean..my mother and I. She does the teaching while I'm at work). Why did we do this? We felt that he wasn't getting the right support at our small county and poor school district.
Simon was diagnosed with asperger's disorder when he was in the 1st grade, when he was struggling profoundly with learing to read. This baffled me, because even though I was a nurse, I still held onto the idea that children with autism were...obvious. They don't look at you, they rock their bodies and don't speak. Simon did none of that, he looked at you, he sought affection and snuggled, he could speak decently despite having some speech impediments. Autism couldn't POSSIBLY be him....
Asperger's disorder was once described to me as "dysfunctional genius disorder" by one of his doctors, and that is something I've held onto with both hands tight. I KNOW how smart my son is, so why did he need special education? WHY couldn't he learn to read (something he still struggles with going into the 7th grade/8th grade). This same doctor was able to calm my fears about this, telling us that he couldn't read the letters simply had no meaning to him, as his brain was wired differently from the rest of the worlds. Simon also has dyslexia making the letters even more obscure. We prayed that special education would be the answer, smaller class room with aides for the students and special adaptive tools and assistance for children with austism. Sadly, it never worked. Simon backslid in school, while having to face the stigma of being in the "Stupid" class. Could he go into the regular class room with support? No...he still needed one on one attention because part of his aspergers is serious ADHD that makes it impossible to sit still and not be disruptive. I've spoken before about how we tried medications and eventually took him off everything, and this was also when we decided to home school.
At first we went with an online school program, a charter "cyber" school. They were incredibly supportive, helping us to set a program up for Simon that met is IEP (individualized education plan) needs as providing special adaptions to their curriculum (a new reading program designed for kids with autism, special adaptive speech to screen typing programs) they even sent a speech and occupational therapist to our home to work one on one with him.
This year, we've decided to break with the program though, and do a more traditional home school with pieced together curriculum from several homeschool courses. Why? We wanted to customize his education even further, to focus on his strengths (problem solving, science and math, visual thinking) to help with his weaknesses (language and spelling, writing, reading and memorization). In doing this, we're also able to meet him on each and every level he needs. For instance he's going to be starting a 9th grade math program while working on a lower reading level.
No, it's not ideal for every family and many schools are able to meet the needs of these special children. But for our family, this has been the answer to the autism, not the stumbling block. Fortunately for me, as a single parent, my mother was able to take this on (and WILLING to! This is a HUGE commitment!) Without that help it wouldn't be possible.
Considering home schooling? Homeschool yourself? What are your thoughts?
Homeschool is fantastic. It encourages the child to work on his weaknesses and build upon his strengths. He is allowed to move around and be totally focused during seat work. He is able to come to school rested and peaceful. He is confident to ask questions when something isn't clear, and free to review multiple times until the lesson is mastered. There is nothing better than spending the day with your child and watching him grow and learn!
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