Homeschool/Distance Ed for Asperger's child?

[Bountiful]

I might post this in the Special Needs thread too, but I'm really wanting to get some insight into homeschooling/distance ed for my 5yr old with Asperger's Syndrome.

For starters, he attends a really lovely state school - his teacher is great, he has a wonderful relationship with his aide and he does fairly well from what I understand. However due to funding, the school are unable to offer him a full day with an aide, and from my preliminary discussions with the staff, they aren't all that willing to give him a full day at school without his adult helper. This is a real bone of contention with me, I am FURIOUS that my child is unable to access full-time schooling because of funding issues in the education system! He would be able to cope I'm sure, he's medicated which has helped enormously with his concentration and attention span and he's most importantly WILLING to learn.... I hate to imagine what my son's life will become if he can never have access to a full time curriculum - how can he become a productive member of society and a functioning adult if he can't have a full time education?

The problem for me is that I am a single parent who wants to study nursing (EEN course) so that I can try and provide a decent life off benefits for my child/ren (I'm pregnant with baby no.2 due in October).... rents are high where I live and I would have to be in a home with a/c if I was to school from home - I still haven't acclimatised to the awful humid weather after 4 years here!

Is there anyone in a position similar to mine? How did the HS option work for you and your child/ren? I'm still a little reluctant to take DS out of school even though I am extremely frustrated with his short hours, he loves going to school and likes his 'friends' and from what I can gather they're generally very accepting of his differences and difficulties.

My younger sister studies via distance ed. due to anxiety and PTSD from bullying 3yrs ago, so my mother has spoken to me about how flexible they are, what their OP scores are like and it seems like a viable option for me, particularly in terms of cost (we'd enrol under the medical option and costs are minimal for us)... I would have to give up on my dream of studying and eventually working until DS was old enough to study for himself from home without my supervision but I am willing to consider this if it will be of real benefit to him.

Sorry this is really long! I'm just quite conflicted still on whether to go ahead with this or not, of course there's also the fear that I won't do a very good job

Any advice?

[DaughteroftheForest]

We're just now trying to make the same descion for my DS. He has aspects of aspergers and definite Sensory Processing Disorder. He's currently attending a private catholic school, but I just don't feel it's the right environ for him for a whole host of reasons.

His dad wants to home school him, but his dad is useless. He does however live with his mother, who is a retired teacher and she's keen to take on the reins of homeschooling. At this point I've decided to take him out of school til he turns 6 (mandatory school age in SA). Before then we'll be moving to a small town that has a small progressive school whic I think will be better suited to DS's needs. If it doesn't work there than I'll look further into enrolling him into homeschool, or possibly even sorting out an arrangement where he goes to school 3 days a week and is h/s the other 2 days.

The biggest thing for me has been not getting ahead of myself. I have a bague idea of what I'll do if XYZ doesn't work, but really it's just making the descion that I'll be finding something that will work for DS and being as flexible as I can in doing so.

I've also got a 14 month old DD and we're thinking about #3, plus possibly taking in DP's 15 yr old sister who's in some bad circumstances currently. It's a lot to deal with but I figure just focus on one step at a time. We've made the descion to keep him home and give him a break for the next 4 months. Now I just have to sort out the next school

[Bountiful]

Thanks for your input ladies, it's much appreciated

VM 2.0 - Unfortunately my DS doesn't qualify for a special school education, even for a day or two a week ... apparently he has to have an intellectual disability in addition to his Asperger's I wish he could do without an aide, but even with his medication (which I have only consented to as a last resort), he is still prone to outbursts and sensory meltdowns so yes, he does need an aide FT.... the assessment has been done and I just can't see myself being happy to go along with a paltry 2.5hrs of school each day because that's all the funding that's available to him ... we have a Paed that we've seen since the dx in 2009, and with my sole parent benefits being chewed up by rent to stay in the area so he can go to this school (catchment rate enforced due to the popularity of the school), I can't afford to supplement the cost for an aide, even if they put all his funding hours together he'd still only get 2 full days at the most

It's a pretty sucky situation and I went into it quite naively in retrospect, thinking that he would get more school time than he has.

The school are doing/have done their best but in my eyes it just isn't enough. 2.5hrs a day is NOT going to cut it. I don't blame the school, they're doing the best they can with the resources they have, but I also am not mentally and physically able to keep hounding them and badgering them in an effort to get them to take more of an interest in my childs schooling, instead of this rather reticent attitude... if I don't make a noise, they'll just leave him as is and I'm not prepared to just sit back with the attitude of 'she'll be right, at least he has something' IYKWIM.

I'll be considering distance ed over the rest of the school year, and make a more firm decision towards the end of the year. It seems to be the best option for us at this juncture is to seriously look at it - the sooner the better I think too, he's in Prep this year and I'd prefer to be proactive as early on in his schooling as I can be.

Thanks again You've both given me plenty of food for thought!

[MyFourCubs]

Just wanted to give you some My DS is ASD (high functioning) and we are going thorugh the stressful deliberation of where he will go to school next eyar. (He was 5 in Jan so we held him back.) We are also in the position that because he doesn't have an intellectual disability, instead he is very bright, so he doesn't qualify for a special needs program or class in a state school. We don't know that we can afford Aspect (Autism satellite class in a mainstream school)- well, um, yeah. We can't. SOOOOOO mainstream looks like the only option at this point but I am not comfortable with it. Very stressful isn't it?? Good luck with your decision.

[Gandalf]

i just wanted to give you some

I don't know anything about distance ed. But i have a very high rate of ASD in my family (specifically asbergers, but i suspect that there might be some ocd and spd as well - on my fathers side, basically every male has it, and a few of the females show more than 'usual' traits), so i've already begun the journey into trying to decide what the best choices will be depending on the severity (obviously all stuff i won't know till i have the physical child but the incidence is so high, that i'd rather be over prepared and have kids with only mild asd, than take the 'it won't happen to me' route and find myself shell shocked).

But i'm looking into several schools in my area that are either montessori or 'alternative', with the assumption that iw ould have to be quite heavily involved as well. Or homeschooling.

For myself, i'm hesitant to homeschool because i struggle with time management and routines anyway (i'm getting better, but it's a slow process), and so i don't think i am capable of actually teaching a child properly. But without a ft TA i think that children with moderate-high aspergers just do not get the level of attention they need in schools with normal class-sizes. So its already a bit of a lose-lose scenario.

I think you need to figure out the funding for the distance ed. Would there be the possibility of having him attend the local school for those 2 days a week with the TA, so that you can do your studying on those days, and then do the distance ed/homeschooling the other 3-5 days a week?
Because i definitely think that furthering yourself is equally important, but you obviously don't want it to be at his detriment

Anyway, sorry for waffling on, but i hope you find a decision that works for you and your boy

[bellalika]

I'm looking at this from the perspective of a mainstream primary teacher (who's taught asphergers - can't spell- kids) and an aunt to an Asphergers niece.

As I'm sure you know, schools needs to apply for funding from the government for an integration aide. In Vic, the initial assessment and funding allocation lasted for all of primary unless challenged. Now it gets reassessed every two years. Schools fight hard, but the eligibility criteria put in place by the government is getting narrower.

There are a lot of AS kids who get no funding at all and manage mainstream, but depends very much where they are in the range.

I would suggest, based on the information here and your other post that you keep him where he is. Talk to the school about moving his aide time to three or four days a week. Literacy and Maths are key areas and are where an aide is the most help as they can assist with running a parallel personalized program. If you get your son coverage for those key times, the independence in the afternoons may be good for him.

A lot of kids with integration aides actually like having some time where it is just them and their friends. Not all but a considerable amount. Most teachers just put different expectations on these students during that block of time.

Does he enjoy specialist times? Or is he very put out as these are times outside of his standard classroom. This may be another time he doesn't need an aide.

You can apply on medical grounds to homeschool your child one or two day a week. This would allow you to work towards your degree and take care of your new child during school days. I'm not entirely sure of the process but hopefully your school can guide you.

Keep in mind to that the social side of schooling is what is most important in prep, followed closely by the setting up of routines in preparation for further schooling. Academic benchmarks for prep are set quite lov for this reason. School routine and peer socialization cannot be obtained at home, even with external activities like sports etc.

Hope this helps with your decision.