7 year old DS w/PDD-NOS & CAPD - homeschooling?

[disney-super-mom]

I have a little boy in first grade in public school with Pervasive development disorder (autism spectrum) and central auditory processing disorder.

My question is, does anyone here homeschool their child with a learning disability? If so, what homeschooling program do you recommend?

I'm at a loss of where to begin, what's the best program, is it a good idea, etc ...so any advice you could give me would be wonderful.

 

[minkydog]

My oldest son has learning disabilities. He also has severe ADHD, some sensory integration issues, and bipolar(which we didn't know when we started). His issues are probably different from your child's, but his needs were the same: to be successful academically by learning in the style in which he learns best. It took us some time to find the right one, but we pretty quickly decided on a unit-study called KONOS. It is a very hands-on program with a Christian orientation. I found that if DS could touch it/smell it/see it/wear it he could learn it. He is not a visual learner so workbooks were not the way to go. He could not see the point of anything remotely like "busy work".

Homeschooling a child with special needs is not easy. But dealing with the school system, especially when they are uncooperative, is also not easy. We homeschooled most of John's elementary & middle school years, then he went to high school for 2yrs, dropped out for a year, went back for a year, then dropped out for good. He finished up high school at home through a correspondence school and has a legitimate high school diploma.

If I had to do it all again, I would. It was at times exhausting. There were a lot of days that we went head-to-head(I have ADD, too) but it would have been just as exhausting dealing with the school. It was actually easier for me to set the pace, require mastery of subject matter, and "think outside the box" to teach him. At home there were no pets or rowdies to distract him, and there were plenty of "cheerleaders" encouraging him to keep trying.

John has always marched to the tune of a different drummer. I imagine he always will. It would not surprise me to find out that John is on the autism spectrum(I have another child who is low-functioning autistic, as well.) He has never been diagnosed as such, but he really had difficulty fitting in at school. John never became successful at school until he came home.

 

[shoegirl1020]

I don't home school, but have seriously thought about it. My school dept is extremely uncooperative.

In any event I would rather see my child in an APPROPRIATE school setting, with peers of his own, with teachers that understand and care about his needs.

Are you or the school dept to put your son in such a placement?

I had to fight for years to get Joe into a program but the one he was in was very caring, small classrooms and he made friends

 

[hookedup]

I have given serious thought about what the future holds for my child. He is in a reg classroom and so far but I really worry about the years ahead. It is very frustrating to fight a school district for correct placement but certainly worth the battle if it results in meeting your childs needs.
Different states (and school districts) have different rules in classifying if homeschooling is considered voluntary placement (like private school not provided by the district) so this can impact the services provided by an IEP and resources given. If you review IDEA 2004 changes there is also some language in there regarding obligation of services for this situation too.

Here are some websites:
http://www.ldonline.org/indepth/homeschooling
http://www.nathhan.com/
http://www.home-school.com/
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/index.htm

and the IDEA info...
http://idea.ed.gov/explore/home

and a couple of books (both are on Amazon):
Home Schooling Children With Special Needs by Sharon Hensley
Learning in Spite of Labels by Joyce Herzog

Finally I will say that there are a lot of parents out there who home school their special needs kids so you can find a ton of support online if you do some searching around. Hope this is helpful - Good luck with your decision!

 

[Nascia]

You may also want to check into virtual charter schools. I believe that they operate in certain parts of Washington, although it may be state wide by now. Both of my school aged boys, 9 with ADHD and 4 with SID, are enrolled in vcs in Pa. The schools have been very flexible and helpful. They also offer free curriculum and tons of support. Worth a look if it's available.

 

[cinda-wella]

Hello- I do homeschool my 8 year old son with pdd-nos. I have used the Calvert program- this is our third year. My son also has a life threatening peanut allergy that he has very limited awareness of, and he eats almost everything he sees. It's terribly nerve racking. Anyway- my older son is in 'regular' school (goes to Catholic school) ..I never 'planned' on homeschooling, but here I am

It can be very hard, but very rewarding. I don't regret it for a minute.

Good luck!

Me Dh DS (10) : DS (8) DD (2)

Goin' to Disney in December!!!!!!!

 

[disney-super-mom]

I guess I was considering homeschooling because he seems to learn much better when it's a one-on-one environment.

Right now he spends about 2 1/2 hours a day in the schools resource room getting help in reading, math, writing, and speech. The rest of the day he's with his regular first grade class, so he's there for social studies, science, music, P.E., recess, library and lunch.

He was in first grade last year, but he was one of the youngest in the class, and with his learning disablility, DH and I felt it would benefit him to repeat first grade. So far this year is going pretty well, but we are already worrying about his future in public school.

He's has a very gentle soul, and he's very social with people, which in many ways is a blessing, but I fear that as he and his friends and peers get older, he will be teased and rebuffed for being "dumb" or "different". I've already seen it happening a little with some of the neighbor kids that he's plays with. He just doesn't understand why they're mean to him sometimes and other times they're nice, and he doesn't have it in him to defend himself or make some kind of verbal comeback. He's very smart in many ways, but because he takes everything so literally, he's very innocent in many ways too.

Also I worry about the security at his school. Visitors are supposed to check in at the office, but I've seen many people just walk right in and go down the halls without so much as a "boo" from anyone who works at the school. Ryan, our son, walks alone in the halls while he goes between his regular first grade class to the resource room, then back to his class, then to speech, then back to class again. His disablity makes him very vulnerable, so anyone walking in the halls at his school could tell Ryan to go with them, and he would without question.

Then DH and I watched Primetime (or maybe it was Dateline), about highschool kids and the terrible things they do to each other with todays technology (cell phones, computers, etc.), actually causing one young man in highschool to kill himself. It really scared us and got us to thinking about Ryan's future in school.

Anyway, we have a lot to think about and decide on. We've researched many homeschooling programs, but the one that looks good to us and the one that might fit Ryan's learning style the best is called Oak Meadow.

Sorry this is so long. Thanks for all your kind replies!

 

[mom_of_5]

Super Disney Mom
I feel for you and your struggle. It sounds to me that you are already well prepared for the homeschool journey. It will be hard but rewarding at the same time.
My DS 11 has Asperger's Syndrome. During his second grade year he was placed in the "Autism" class. Small class but the children were mainly non-verbal and had many behavioral problems. DS already had his behavioral problems but was verbal and we were afraid he would see and learn new problems. We were right, he hit a teacher they suspended him and I said enough and pulled him out. We spent the next few months homeschooling. The following school year the school system wanted to place him in the same classroom and we said no, found a lawyer and spent the next 8 months battleing the system all the while homeschooling and repeating 2nd grade.
Since I did not plan to homeschool I was unprepared. I bought all the work books I could from any super store,used the internet and also found the website edhelper.com. I feel he learned so much but it was so hard to keep him focused, we had a baby who needed my attention most of the time. He also kept asking when could he go back to" real "school and stop going to "mommy" school.
We won our case and by 3rd grade he was placed in a regular classroom "appropriate" setting and is now in 5th learning with his peers and doing well. We still have bumps, but his teachers are very good with him.
I do worry about the teasing & bullying he is just so innocent and does not understand so I may take up the homeschool adventure again once middle school starts.
Sorry this was so long I just wanted to let you know I think you are doing the right thing for your child, he sounds like he would benefit from a home envrironment.
Good luck and remember a homeschooler only need a few hours of lessons a day,not the standard 7 hour school day.