Charlie Said:

If I homeschool my son with Speech Delay does he have the right to get therapy, im in FLORIDA?

We Answered:

I know several homeschoolers in Florida who have gotten speech therapy for their children through the local school district. I've also heard that some school districts are cutting back in the services provided to homeschoolers due to tight budgets. So the only way to know for sure is to contact the school district and ask them.

Donna Said:

Autism : Pre-K or homeschool?

We Answered:

It really depends on a LOT. It's not a decision we can help you make because 1) we don't know your son, 2) we don't know how you would homeschool and 3) we don't know the school system you'll be in. I have a lot of experience, two kids with autism, both in public schooled and then homeschooled.

Preschool was okay for my daughter with autism. A better district and a better program would have helped her more, but as it was, the program she was in (because i didn't know better, we are SO ingrained with the idea that teachers know everything) was acceptable. Anything less would have screwed her up for life. It is a JOKE to believe that schools provide a one-on-one aide for every child with a disability. If you're lucky, you'll have ten kids in a classroom with one teacher and two or three aides. Once a child is older, *if* you can get the school to agree that mainstream is academically more appropriate, you'll have to fight for a one-on-one aide, it is very unlikely the school will just assign one.

As I said, preschool was okay. Once you get past kindergarten, the teachers have very little training in autism, and you're stuck trying to moderate between the regular ed teacher, and the special ed teacher. If you're lucky, the school has it's own sped teacher with autism training, but more likely, any with autism training rotate out between schools, providing consultation, rather than actually teaching within a school. Federal law does not require a teacher with autism training to teach your child daily, only oversee the curriculum.

As for curricula, your child probably learns differently than most other children. Children with autism are usually visual learners, sometimes tactile, and have auditory processing disorders. Once you get out of kindergarden, 75% of learning is auditory, and it is difficult to get modification. We argued for eight months for a different math curriculum for our daughter, and they finally ordered it a month before school let out. Our son was very much advanced, and their idea of a gifted program was a crafty hour once a week.

Socialization is much as the above poster said. To say that socialization at school is beneficial to kids with autism is like throwing a person who can't swim into the water. Kids with autism do not learn socialization from picking it up like neurotypical kids do. I'd go a step further and say it's like throwing someone who can't swim into a shark tank and expecting them to make it to the side. Kids pick up very quickly who is different, and they will torture them from the beginning. They'll poke and prod and tease until your kid loses it, and then YOUR kid will get in trouble for not being able to sneak like the other kids. But I'm not bitter ;-)

Once my kids got past kindergarden, school was a stressful place for them to be. Academically they are both intelligent, but the school could not present information in a manner that suited their learning style. The school would not protect them from bullies, could not provide individualized social training. Both were showing signs of depressed, my older one was suicidal at the age of ten and the younger was self mutilating at the age of eight. six months outside of school, and they were both happier, relaxed. One year out, and my oldest was nearly recovered. My daughter was much more affected. She was labeled as severely autistic at three, but now is labeled as high functioning. She still lacks a lot of language, but part of that was the school not willing to teach her sign or pecs because they thought it would limit her. Outside of school, we did both and she learned quickly and actually speaks quite a bit. She went from a 3yo understanding of math and reading to that of a second grader in less than a year. My son was able to complete algebra by the end of fifth grade, and even better, began to enjoy reading fiction (he's always loved nonfiction) and to be able to understand the characterization, motivation, pragmatics of the story line. Huge for kids with autism.

I don't have research, I do have my own life, and that of several other families with autistic children as examples. I know very few families in school who are pleased with how things are going, and who's kids are doing well. It helps to have private therapists who can consult with you in creating a personalized program, we had an ABA therapist, a speech therapist and a psychologist all of who were supportive of homeschooling and helpful in finding the next steps for my children, both academically, but also socially and in lifeskills. I know it seems overwhelming, but it's quite easy. GOod luck and God bless.