How Do You Homeschool A Child With Autism?
Are you knew to homeschooling (or home educating, if you’re in the UK) ? Or are you considering starting to homeschool your child with autism?
If this is new to you, then it’s a big step and it probablly feels overwhelmeing just now. I’ve been there. My son attended school part time for a few years and I taught him at home the rest of the time. Then without warning he was 'pushed out’ of school because they could no longer meet his needs. So I found myself unable to work (at that time I was lecturing part-time in early education) as I was teaching my son full time at home. It was tiring for me at the start as I spent many hours searching for resources and then making my own, but my son loved it! To him no school meant a lot less sensory stress.
So here are my 5 suggested steps for setting up your home school:
Sensory - meeting your child’s sensory needs will help them focus and learn. Think about seating, lighting, noise, movement breaks, snacks. If understanding Sensory Processing Difficulties feels daunting on top of everything else you’re trying to learn just now, check out my Easy Read Guide to Sensory Processing and Sensory Preferences Checklist
Strengths - what are your child’s strengths? Do they learn more easily by listening, doing, reading, making? Do they pick up math concepts quicker than language? Do they recall facts and list or do they like being creative, or both? Go with these strengths and gradually build on them. Start where your child is comfortable with a topic or subject so that they feel successful. Rather than saying “This new task is really easy so you’ll be able to do it no problem”, which puts pressure on your child not to fail at something you’ve told them is easy, say “I know this new task we’re doing today is tricky and it might be hard to learn …..” so that the pressure is off and when your child succeeds at something ‘difficult’ they get a confidence boost. Download my Homeschool Resources HERE.
Skills - What skills are most relevant to your child? Depending on where you live there may be parts of the curriculum that you are legally obliged to cover, but as far as possible think about what matters to your child. Do they need to know nuclear physics or would money and time skills be more helpful to them. Teaching life skills doesn’t mean you need to miss out academics- shopping and cooking can include math and reading skills; cleaning and other chores helps with motor skills and following/reading directions. Check out my blog post 10 Life Skills to Teach Kids & Teens with Autism At Home
Social - Many parents worry about how their child will develop their social skills if they are home schooled. Learning social skills isn’t the same as becoming sociable. I’m not a socialble person ( I hate parties, and the cinema) but I know how to be kind & polite to people (my siblings might disgree). There are so many opportunties at home to learn social skills- see my blog post How Do You Teach Social Skills. Right now your access to your community might be limited but I think that ‘normally’ home school kids can have more opprtunities to practice real social skills.
Schedule - find a schedule that works for your child. Do they need lots of movemnet breaks? Are they are morning person? Do they focus better in the afternoon? Do they work better before or after lunch? If your child has the language skills to help you plan their schedule then give them some input into it (total free choice might not work for some kids).Some kids might like daily list of activities, while others prefer a weekly calendar.
Resources:
Guide To Homeschooling Your Child with Autism.
Homeschool Supports
Printable Education Activities
I hope this information has been helpful!
Kirsten