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To home school or not???

Geewhizz1999

My son age 9 has ASD and is currently in year 4 of a main stream school.  He has great difficulty in retaining information and concentrating, but the biggest issue for him seems to be writing.  The school have been pressing him to write joined up in all his subjects, but this was causing numerous meltdowns as he found it so hard to do.  After having a chat with the school senco, we came to an agreement that he could write in single letters as long as he tries hard to complete the work.  After attending the EarlyBird Plus course a few months ago (which I hasten to add, the school would not send a teacher to attend with us) we have relayed what they need to do to get the most out of him, ie: asking him to write in smaller chunks, not copy this A4 page of writing, as that completely overwhelms him!!!  However they continue to do it their way and so he is now simply refusing to work full stop!  The teacher came out after school today, hot headed and clearly exasperated as my son and completely frozen her out!  This is happening all the time and I hate seeing him coming out of school crying and so stressed... I always said if he started to struggle too much that I would pull him out and home school him, but I just dont know if this is the right thing to do for HIM!  Academically I'm sure I could manage, but would it be the best thing for him?? Does anyone else home school their ASD 9 year old???  How do you find it? 

Parents

  • Hi Geewhiz1999.

    I know EXACTLY how you are feeling. We kept our grandson, who has high functioning ASD in the mainstream school until he was 10. The school he attended was award winning and achieved fantastic academic results if the child had no problems. Unfortunately although the school were more than happy to take ASD children because of the extra financial and teaching assistant support it meant they were fundamentally uninformed about ASD. I would pick our little lad up from school to be told he's been awful today....its not his autism...he was just naughty! As if he could take the condition that informs his every action and thought off like an old coat when he wanted to. I did consider home schooling but didn't think that I could guarantee being able to keep it up as he got into his teenage years as he is academically bright.

    You don't mention if there are any additional needs schools in your area which would be worth looking at. I was really frightened at the thought of a special school but there is an award winning school in our area and the decision to send him there was the best thing we ever did for him. He is now in a place where his challenges are understood and is a much much happier (14 now). His education has continued at the same level...but he is in a small class with staff who understand how to allow him to access the curriculum. I remember in the mainstream school that he was made to sit a listening comprehension test in a room with the windows open near a road and a digger working outside!! Needless to say he couldnt do it.

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  • Hi Geewhiz1999.

    I know EXACTLY how you are feeling. We kept our grandson, who has high functioning ASD in the mainstream school until he was 10. The school he attended was award winning and achieved fantastic academic results if the child had no problems. Unfortunately although the school were more than happy to take ASD children because of the extra financial and teaching assistant support it meant they were fundamentally uninformed about ASD. I would pick our little lad up from school to be told he's been awful today....its not his autism...he was just naughty! As if he could take the condition that informs his every action and thought off like an old coat when he wanted to. I did consider home schooling but didn't think that I could guarantee being able to keep it up as he got into his teenage years as he is academically bright.

    You don't mention if there are any additional needs schools in your area which would be worth looking at. I was really frightened at the thought of a special school but there is an award winning school in our area and the decision to send him there was the best thing we ever did for him. He is now in a place where his challenges are understood and is a much much happier (14 now). His education has continued at the same level...but he is in a small class with staff who understand how to allow him to access the curriculum. I remember in the mainstream school that he was made to sit a listening comprehension test in a room with the windows open near a road and a digger working outside!! Needless to say he couldnt do it.

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