Guest Author - Doreen Farrar

I met Doreen earlier this year through a national homeschool loop. Doreen has a BS degree from UC San Diego. Her son Eric was diagnosed as autistic several years ago, and their learning difficulties don't stop there.

Doreen was kind enough to relate her story to me so I could share it with the world.

"Has your child's reading lesson ever included the names of his regular medications? Have you ever helped your teen learn the multiplication tables--for the third time? If so, then you've homeschooled a special-needs child!

"I've done both of these things, having homeschooled my son through asthma, autism, and regular academic dry spells over the last five years. We've used our time together to identify his allergies and academic strengths. We've gone out into our community to study the art of social interaction. We've identified some of his 'skill gaps,' so that he could learn ways to bridge them. In some cases, we've had to look for ways to hide them, instead.

"Autistic people often have what educators call a 'sawtooth' skills profile--they have areas of great potential and areas of, well, abysmal lack of potential. For example, my son can pronounce any word he sees, but he is rarely able to define a word clearly. He can (and did) derive some of the basic principles of calculus by watching the world around him, but it took him four years to begin to grasp the multiplication tables.

"I took him out of public school in the middle of third grade. He'd begun hitting and biting people to get suspended every school day. It wasn't until a friendly speech-language pathologist proved that his language skills were very weak that I understood that he had had no other way to tell me he wanted to homeschool. Leaving the system was not an easy decision. I've raised him alone for most of his life, and we need to find a source of income to replace my paycheck. After almost five years, we're still looking for the perfect home-based income.

"Five years ago, his diagnoses were ADHD and asthma. We also knew that he had some allergies. Nobody recognized his autism or how severe his asthma and allergies actually were for over a year after we came home to stay. It was a long year. He'd homeschooled with a regular curriculum in first grade, when I'd had an amenable sitter, but a regular curriculum didn't work this time. Somehow, between first grade and third grade, he'd lost the ability to learn by "traditional" methods. We will probably never know why this happened, but I'm not sure that the reason matters anymore.

"I should mention that I live in a homeschool-friendly state, and that I've chosen to associate with our school district's homeschool support program. I'd love to be a 'pure' homeschooler again. I have a college degree, so the state would allow it, with proper recordkeeping. However, the methods I'm using now are unorthodox, and I appreciate the legal cover that the support program provides. They also offer limited curriculum funds (always nice on a limited income) and help me arrange for the therapy services that my son receives through the school district's special education program. If they weren't there to help us, our homeschooling journey would be far more difficult."

Next month Doreen and I plan to discuss the curriculum choices available for children with special learning needs.