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diagnosing and homeschooling
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I have a very important question. I and my husband are seeking an organization that is open minded about homechooling to help with diagnosing my daughter. She needs testing for FASD, ASD or PDD. I called and spoke w/the Marcus Institute in Atlanta. However, we are VERY uncomfortable w/them because she made it very clear that the “ed. specialist” will pressure us to put her in Gov. school. That children w/special needs do better, need the social modulation..blah..blah. I amde it clear that we would not be making that deciaion. Then as the conversation ended, the last words were for me to keep an open mind. On top of those comments and reveled biased attitude of the institute is the fact that she will have to see a social worker during this day of testing. We do not want that to occur, plus I don[‘t even see how it is revelant now that she has been adopted for almost 3 years. To be frank-I do not trust the combination of social workers, special needs and a negatively biased attitude towards H. schoolers. Do any of you know a place where she can receive the testing needed?
We went through enough w/social services during the adoption process and they did not protect her then, not to mention the problems they gave us.
I personally do not know of anything to help, but perhaps the folks at this excellent organization for special-needs homeschoolers can help:
There are resource lists and a forum where you might ask the question there.
I pray you are able to find what you need for your dear daughter.
Michelle D
Please give my friend a call. She tutors special needs students and is extremely knowledgeable. She will meet with you and your child for no charge. Her name is Randi St. Denis and her number is: 770-714-4313. She knows all about diagnosing. I highly encourage you to give her a call and tell her that I sent you. You will like her and feel encouraged and know exactly what you have to do.
Donna Lookenott
Thank you Bookworm, I will chat more w/them and also Donna. You’re generous reference is calms my heart.
I have heard of Randi St. Dennis from homeschool hangout in Alpharetta. I just did not have an opening to get in touch w/her. She’s been highly spoken of concerning Sp.needs. I can’t tell you my appreciation. I know the Lord is working in this to guide us to what our family needs to do.
Rachel
We went through a private psy. who did diagnosis. We payed a lot, but sought out who we wanted. I felt much better doing that, then dealing with the school system.
Whenever social services and/or special needs is involved I highly recommend being a member of Home School Legal Defense Assc. They have a Special needs coordinator who offers compassionate advice and resource suggestions to members who are homeschooling children with special learning needs. They will also help you if ever threatened by a medaling social worker. There membership is $100.00 a year and WELL WORTH THE MONEY.
They may me contacted at 540-338-5600.
Sharla
Hello everybody! My name is Luz Knight and I have a son who was diagnosted with autism, now he is eight years old and was going to special ed. class but while he was there he got a lot of anxiaty problems and also started to get self injury behaviors, he was not learning in such a enviroment. It was njothing but a babyssiter program and the school district was not willing to help us, rather they file due procces on us, therefore We decided to withdrew him from school and since then I have been homeschooloing him with my own material and to our surprise he alredy started to read and write and he is doing some simple math. The school clasified him as a secundary diagnostic mental retardation according to their test and their IQ scores and then they decide to lower their goals wich Idid not took their word but instead decided to teach him one on one at home and also he has ABA in home therapy.Now my plans are to enroll him in a homeschool program eve if we have to pay or buy a curriculum, so if anybody is homeschooling a child like mine autistic I would appreciated your feed back. May God blees you all.
One of my sons is also 8 and has Autism. Homschooling him has had its challenges, but it is also such a joy. I’d suggest you explore the Simply Charlotte Mason website more. The CM approach can work for everyone! Please feel free to private message me if I can help you more.
Melissa
My youngest daughter has autism, Luz. We’ve homeschooled her all the way through, and she’s twelve now. I’ve used some ABA techniques for some skills and some RDI principles for socializing and inter-personal relating, as well as a lot of Charlotte Mason methods for academics and habits. You can read more about Hannah’s progress and therapies on my other Web site, Intentional Parents.
As you’re finding out, schooling your child at home gives you an opportunity to find out what he really can do and to give him customized instruction and help. It’s a lot of work, but take it one step at a time and you’ll do fine.
Hello everybody! you guys are wonderfull mothers. Thank you so much for the encourage. I still think strongly that my only choice is homeschooling Kyle. I still looking for curriculums. I searched for online homeschools, but they don’t want to modified the method online for Kyle. Kyle can’t learn that way. He won’t seat in front of the computer for 60 minutes lesson, the best way for him is thru a traditional method, texbooks, reading, writing etc. He also has a home base ABA therapy. I have been teaching at home with my own material and the progress he has made is a lot. If anybody can explain to me some advices about how you guys plan a day when you homeschool and what curiculum for math and languages and art will friendly that I can look into, it will be very helpful. If anybody is using Charlotte Mason method, can you explain me if thisis a curriculum, of just a method? I really will appreciated any input. God Bless you. Luz
Luz- Your name sounds familiar. I think I remember you from the MB12Valtrex Yahoo group. Welcome!
I have an 11 yo son with Aspergers. We’ve always homeschooled.
It sounds like you are doing a great job that he is making progress! Congratulations.
Click on this link for recommendations for curriculum http://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/scmguide/
For math we use Math U See, and that’s been a great fit for our family. There are other options that others here use.
The key with CM is to do short lessons, which work nicely for a child with special needs. Sixty minutes is way too long for a special needs child to be expected to sit in front of a computer.
Sonya also has some YouTube videos that explain more about the CM methods
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x21aQnmLC1A&feature=related, and there are some free ebooks you can download that listed on the left side of the homepage that are very helpful
Hope this helps,
Nanci
Hi. I have a 6 year old we adopted when she was 14 months old and she was 4 when she was diagnosed with FASD. She attended kindergarten and most of Grade 1 but we pulled her out in April and started homeschooling her. It was the best decision we’ve made. Public school is no place for FASD kids and I strongly urge you to homeschool her. Jacquie is not reading, doing math and is starting to understand the social cues from others…all things the school didn’t think she was capable of (and all this happed from April to June). There was way to much stimulation and pressure at school!
My 7 year old SDD son was pulled out of the public school system this past summer and we are 85% through his IEP already for this year. It takes someone being right on top of him to do his work carefully and to keep those lessons really short and straight to the point. Let me tell you – I have never cried so much in my life but the good days are just awesome. We do what is recommended on this website. Bob Books, Pathway, Math U See, Geography related to dinosaurs (He loves that) nature and what dinosaurs eat, character lessons, a good book read out loud or two, poetry over breakfast – all 3 of my boys LOVE that. Robert Louis Stevenson is wonderful. Art museum, puppetry arts, Gwinnett historical society, Atlanta History Center, Atlanta Symphony, Childrens Museum, Fernbank, Aquarium is kinda filling in the rest. There are homeschool days 2 & 3 times a week somewhere if you want to hit the road.
The school system was doing a fair job but I decided I needed to be accountable for my own son and really find out what he can and can’t do. Plus he was coming home weird. When you are around a bunch of kids 6+ hours a day that all have an issue or two, you would come home with a few more antics under your belt. After the summer started, that “stuff” stopped. No more, thanks.
Luz, if by “online homeschool,” you are talking about the virtual schools that take public school curriculum and you educate at home online, my advice to you and your special needs child is….RUN THE OTHER WAY!
Now, having said that, we were enrolled in an online public school for 3 years as an attempt to compromise with my estranged husband. It worked in that the kids were receiving education, but our school days were far from smooth and easy. The teachers we had were very caring, especially my son’s special ed. teacher, but it still was not working for us.
I longed to return to traditional homeschooling, and research (plus talking to friends) brought me to the Simply Charlotte Mason website. Charlotte Mason is a method of educating children, and Simply Charlotte Mason provides a curriculum guide. If you read, read, read the materials on this site and everything connected to the curriculum guide, you will find a wonderfully supportive hand to help you get started educating your children the way they need to learn.
As I read through everything here and began gathering books from libraries, friends, and other sources, I suddenly thought, wait a minute–can it really be this simple to provide my autistic son and two neuro-typical daughters with a quality education? Well, it has been a little intense to prepare for the school year (mostly because I tend to “plan with a vengeance”), but I had my answer last Friday, after our first week of school, when my son said, “School isn’t really that hard!” That was a joy to hear, because he has struggled so, even with extra help from “experts.” This past week, he has worked pretty hard and has had very good results. He is even memorizing his addition facts–something we could never get him to do in the past.
All I can say to those who are struggling to find the best way to accomplish things, both great and small, with their special needs child, is to immerse yourself in the material on this website. If it feels like the right fit, go for it! It’s a wonderful way to spend our school day. All of my kids are much more enthusiastic about learning, and it has been great for my son because one of Charlotte Mason’s ideas was to keep lessons short. As you mentioned, no more 60-minute lessons for my son….but he is really showing me what he can do in 20 to 30 minutes on a subject.
HTH,
Sue M.
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