Hello!

Hello! I am Irena, mother of two kids with Down's syndrome and autism, Kirsten and Pascal. Especially my son Pascal, 17, is locked in his own world and is, according to the doctors, far along the autism spectrum. Both kids do not talk and cannot write, so I created the account. It is difficult to be cut off from all the usual outside help and support during this lock-down. Fortunately, my son enjoys being home, sleeping long, less pressure for doing things he does not like, like many of the learning activities at school, and less restrictions as far as using his tablet goes. But I am really struggling with achieving much home-schooling. For him, all the usual learning tasks belong at school, not at home, so he mostly just looks at me and refuses to cooperate in any way. Because of his special needs, I can't simply point him in the direction of online activities either, he needs 1:1 support. And I am expected to do this 4-6 hours of this every day (despite working from home and having to take care of his sister as well). 4-6 hours would be a nightmare for him as well as for me. To be honest, I am quite furious with an education ministry expecting the parents to create a "normal" school environment when our whole world has turned upside down! I am doing the best I can, but it is so far from any education at school, it's ridiculous. How are you managing the home-schooling?