Homeschooling a child with special needs

[Deleted]

Hi I am new to this forum. I was wondering if anyone had any information or advice on homeschooling a child with special needs.

Thank you,
Christie

[rachel]

Hi Christie,

It depends what sort of special needs your child has. I work with autistic children mostly, and whilst I don't actually homeschool them (I do 'relief care', which means going to someone's house and spending an hour or so with the child so that the mother/parents can have time to themselves or do the shopping in peace), I know of quite a few families who do.

Lots of parents get so fed up with what schools do (or don't do, rather) for their kids, that they homeschool them. I could link you up with some of these families if you want.

Of course, if your child has 'special needs' which aren't autistic or autism-like, this is probably no use to you.

From Rachel.

[blessedbygod]

Hi Christie

I'm not sure which special needs you are referring to. We have a child with down syndrome that we homeschool. She is such a blessing. We live in Alabama.

Love in Christ,
Kim

[Deleted]

Our son in developmentally delayed due to a seizure disorder he has. He is on a wide variety of levels...anywhere from 7mnth to 18mnth. He is trached he doesn't talk but communicates my crying..grunting..pulling at you....I just don't have peace for some reason putting into public school. He is now 3 and of course they want you to start them right away and then on the other hand I don't want to short change him either in getting what he needs. He is a twin and we will be homeschooling his brother. Our oldest is off to his first yr in Bible college and our 11grader goes to our church christian school.

I'm in TX and I know that every child with special needs are very different but I guess I am just trying to establish a starting point to research homeschooling for special needs.

Thank you all for you advice and resources,
Christie

[blessedbygod]

Hi Christie

I have research a little with homeschooling special needs....but I guess with each child and different needs it's hard to know. I have found a couple of websites that focus on learning with delays. With our little girl....I am just trying to start with the basics and go from there. I am still looking for more info too.
You are more than welcome to call me. I can PM my number to you if want it.

Love in Christ,
Kim

[Deleted]

Actually, my comment is applicable to all of our children. Some of us think that our children will believe in Jesus because we believe in Jesus. Jesus said that in the kingdom of God that the word of God is the seed.

I believe we need to incorporate a good deal of Bible reading and/or memorization in education. I have seen good things happen in the lives of my children and others because of this. There is a lot in this world for our children to deal with and they need God's help.

I have also taught children(in another country) with very low English levels. The main point is children with very different abilities(English and otherwise). Not everyone receives the word of God, but we want to give people a chance to receive it and also not take things for granted.

I take my daughter to school on a motorcycle, and I take off my helmet at stop lights to quote some scriptures with her everyday. I have seen some improvement in her heart because of this.

The main topics of scripture I focus on are wisdom(Proverbs), salvation(Romans 10:9,10,13 II Corinthians 5:21 Matthew 10:32,33 John 3:14-21) and the word of God(Isaiah 55:10,11). The way I handle different levels is in the quantity of knowledge.

When someone has any difficulties in learning I focus on what I think is the most important in life and in the subject.
With Bible number one is salvation. With mathematics first priorities are addition tables and multiplication tables. Don't forget:
Proverbs 4:7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
If children have a hard time with all the tables together, I generate tests on excel such as 1 plus, 2 plus, ... and 2 times, 3 times, ..., 9 times tests. In other words I break things down into their component parts if teaching everything together is difficult.
With English we start with a,b,c's and their original pronunciation and then teach reading with one vowel words using short vowel sounds(the original sound) such as cat, dog, frog, etc. We can also teach most common verbs such as: ask, can, will, get, has, help, jump, let, must, tell. The second step in reading are two vowel words where the first vowel is a long vowel sound and the second vowel is silent. With nouns, words such as: bike, etc.
I have some more details if you are really interested. I must go now.

In Jesus Christ,
William K. Earl

[rachel]

Well, my personal opinion is that homeschooling is better for all children, and especially special-needs children! All children are different and teachers in a classroom of 30 children just can't cater for all their individual needs... it's just the same in a 'special needs' classroom where you have a teacher or two and about 10 children.

Also, you know your child. You will be able to teach him in a way that he will respond to. If you send him to a special school, no matter how trained the teachers are, they won't know your child like you do. They may be full of good ideas, but some things won't work for everyone! Your son would be in a class with other children with a wide range of abilities and he won't neccessarily be catered for as well as he could be.

I'm just saying this because I did my work experience last year in a special ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) unit for two- to six-year-olds. There were about 10-15 children who were anywhere from severe classic autism to Asperger's Syndrome, also GDD (Global Developmental Delay) and all sorts of PDDs (Pervasive Developmental Delay). So on one hand I was working with the five-year-old child who was quite verbal and toilet-trained but had difficulty socialising, and on the other, I was working with the three-year-old child who couldn't speak at all and wasn't toilet trained, but loved playing with the other children. It was impossible for myself, 4 OTs, and a Speech Therapist, to cater for all their needs. The teachers didn't always know the children so well, and sometimes you could tell the child was trying to communicate something and we just couldn't work out what it was. More often than not, a child wouldn't try, and because there were so many children, the teacher's didn't pick up on the nonverbal signals. I mean, don't get me wrong, the teachers tried their best, but sometimes it just wasn't enough.

I'm not trying to get you off sending your son to a special unit entirely, but I'm just saying what my experience with such places is. Also, if you're homeschooling his twin, then what better place to learn than with him? No-one can say he isn't learning the social skills he needs if he's got another child the same age with him!

As Kim said, just start with the basics and go from there. Don't worry if he isn't keeping up with his brother, just praise him for what he can do. Keep him on much the same curriculum, but go at his own pace (good advice for any child, I think). You might have to modify his learning styles to fit his needs, like attention deficit, sensory needs, et cetera, though.

My other advice would be to teach him sign language! Learn it with him if you don't know it. That way, even if he is non-verbal, he can still communicate his needs. You don't have to both become fluent, but just learn enough to say things like 'hungry', 'thirsty', 'tired', 'toilet', 'please', 'thankyou', and so on. My mother taught both my sister and I these basic things in AUSLAN (Australian Sign Language) when we were toddlers and while I don't remember much, since beginning to work with autistic children I've recalled a lot! Lots of autistic and Downs children learn basic sign language, so their parents can avoid the crying, grunting, and pulling, you speak of.

And if your Children's Services department isn't happy with you teaching your special needs child yourself, some universities and TAFEs offer short courses in working with children with special needs. I know a couple of mothers of ASD children who go along once a week for a couple of hours for about 9 weeks and get a certificate in it.

Anyway, those are just my suggestions. They mayn't work for you, but they are some things I have found.

from Rachel.

[blessedbygod]

After reading what Rachel wrote above....I have to say I AGREE. The one on one time is very important - not to mention - - no one will LOVE your child the way you do. Teaching your child GOD's WORD is MOST important. I am really enjoying homeschooling our little girl. She also enjoys it.

Love in Christ,
Kim
[/b

[rachel]

If you want some good literature on teaching children with special needs, I recommend the book 'Let All The Children Come To Me', but MaLesa Breeding, Dana Hood, and Jerry Whitworth. It's published by Cook Communications Ministries and is aimed at Sunday School teachers who wish to include children with disabilities in their classes. There's lots of information in there about teaching children with Down's, autism, Tourette's, ADHD, and other developmental delays, specifically in a Bible-based and Christian environment. There are also lots of interesting Bible quotes and references.

[blessedbygod]

Hello
I looked- on Amazon - at the book that you recommended - 'Let All The Children Come To Me', but MaLesa Breeding, Dana Hood, and Jerry Whitworth - published by Cook Communications Ministries --
It really looks like a book I would like to get. Is it more for Sunday School and ministries or would individual families benefit from it? I noticed it was over $200 on Amazon.
In reading the reviews - all were postivie and good about the book.
One review recommended a book called ---
Same Lake, Different Boat: Coming Alongside People Touched by Disability by Stephanie O. Hubach
foreword by Joni Eareckson Tada
Have you heard of this book and if so - do you know anything about it? And which of the two would be the better?

Thank you for letting me know about the above book.

Love in Christ
Kim

PS - I didn't know bananas were so expensive where you live. I guess we take that for granted here. My husband's mother just brought us some bananas today. I will think about you when eating them.

[rachel]

Wow, $200! Really? I bought it for AU$16.95 at the local Christian bookshop. I'm really passionate about working with children with disabilities, particularly autism spectrum disorder and similar disorders (you probably worked that out) and having been a Sunday school teacher's assistant for several years and hoping to homeschool any children I have one day, I thought it would be a good investment.

I've not finished it yet - about halfway through - but so far it's been pretty good and informative. Given that it's geared for Sunday school teachers, it's really aimed at teaching smaller classes rather than the larger ones found at school and also for teaching about the Christian faith. I think homeschooling families would benefit from it, yes. It probably wouldn't be all that useful for families who sent their children to school, but there are lots of really good ideas for teaching children with disabilities.

I've not heard of the book you mentioned - I will look it up and get back to you. I found the other by accident at the bookshop the other day.

About the bananas - they're not always so expensive! It's just that the floods early in the year up north completely wiped out the banana plantations, and since they're a fresh produce they can't really be imported from anywhere but New Zealand, which is too cold to grow bananas (Queensland at the top of the Northern Territory, both in the far north of Australia, are almost on the equator and very tropical). Bananas are usually much cheaper and they're getting back to normal price now that the crops have grown back.

If you would like, I could see if my bookshop has another copy of the book and send it to you. PM me if you're interested.

from Rachel.

[rachel]

There is a good review for "Same Lake, Different Boat" here:
frcarmadale.org/ResourceInformation/PeoplewithSpecialNeeds/SameLakedifferentboat/tabid/134/Default.aspx

I don't know anything about the church who's website it's on, I just googled the book. It looks quite interesting, also it's written from a Christian perspective. I may look into getting it at some point.

from Rachel.

[blessedbygod]

Hey Rachel....
You are so sweet to offer looking at your bookstore for that book. THANK YOU!!! We are trying to get the other book ordered for right now.
I'm not sure how I would get you the money - if you were to find that book in your bookstore (different currenty) and then shipping might be quite high coming from South Aust.

Thank you again for offering. I checked Amazon again tonight...it was over $300. Not sure why it is so high....above the price it had list price to be $19.99 (but had it crossed out with the new price being over $300). I will keep checking on Amazon - maybe there has been a mistake and the price will be lower a little later.
Thanks again. You are sweet.

Love in Christ,
kim

[rachel]

Oh, yes... I hadn't thought of the currency exchange thing. Sometimes I forget between Australia, America, and New Zealand, because we all have dollars. It's much harder to forget between Australia and England or Europe because they use pounds and euros respectively.

I still find it hard to believe that it's so expensive on the internet! Especially as the American dollar is meant to be higher than the Australian dollar (I think AU$1 is generally equal to 95c in American money? I know that NZ$1 is about equal to 95c Aussie cents.)

Anyway, keep it in mind that I may be able to get it for you. But the price may go down on Amazon, who knows!

from Rachel.