Is anyone homeschooling a child with learning disabilities?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread

My DH and I are going to be doing foster care for a 13 year old who has severe learning disabilities along with mental health issues. I have not been able to meet with her teacher yet but do know that she reads at a 1st or 2nd grade level and the only math she is able to do is addition. When I meet with her teacher, I am going to ask what we can do to help her here at home. We will not be homeschooling her but would appreciate any help that any homeschoolers could offer especially if your children have learning disabilities. Thanks in advance!

-- Cindy in NY (cjpopeck@worldnet.att.net), February 18, 2002

Answers

Cindy I used to get a newsletter on this subject. If you are interested, I will try to dig up the address. I think they have a web site. The newsletter was called NATHAN. I think that is also the name of their web site also. I learned a great deal from those folks. I dont' have those problems with my six children. I just wanted to learn about what other folks have to go through. Let me know if you want the address.

-- Cindy Herbek (dh40203@navix.net), February 18, 2002.

Thanks, I'd appreciate the address if you can find it.

-- Cindy in NY (cjpopeck@worldnet.att.net), February 18, 2002.

Hi Cindy,

I teach special education, I also homeschooled our younger son as well from 11th grade on. If you need any specific information please e-mail me privately and I will be glad to help.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), February 18, 2002.


There is an e-list that deals with home educating handicapped children. I've been a member of this list for over a year and have found it very helpful. The members are also eager to be a help. hkwd.......homeschooling kids with disabilities.... hkwd@yahoogroups.com There is an archive and a great web site with a zillion links to helpful information.

-- Kathy Giddings (ckgidd@netins.net), February 18, 2002.

I don't home school but I do have a handicapped child. One of the first things I would recommend would be to contact your states dept. of Special Education and ask for a copy of their regulations for the education of exceptional students (that's what it's called in our state). I have found the school's will do little unless you are well informed. Be prepared when you go to IEP meetings and don't back down from what you feel she needs.

From what you describe I wouldn't consider her severe as she can read some and do a little math. On the homefront what you can do is provide a lot of love and attention, positive praise and teaching her basic life skills. Flash cards are good, books and being read to are great.

Special needs children can be very time consuming and sometimes frustrating and if you need to vent at times you can contact me privately but they are also a great treasure and I can't imagine my life without my daughter. I also didn't know if I'd ever be to handle a "normal" child but I'm now finding I can.

Oh, one more thing, if she has limited verbal abilities I'd also suggest some basic sign language. The better they can communicate the happier life can be.

Best of luck to you. It's a wonderful thing you are doing-to take in a special needs child as sometimes their own parents can't deal with it.

-- Terri in WV (mrs_swift_26547@yahoo.com), February 18, 2002.



The website you are looking for is www.nathhan.com. Good Luck.

-- Colleen in northern NY (tweedie@nortnnet.org), February 19, 2002.

Glad someone gave you the web site for NATHAN. Here is another one. Joyce Herzog.com. I went into her links and found a lot of information I believe you could trust. Cindy

-- Cindy Herbek (dh40203@navix.net), February 19, 2002.

I want to say that I am grateful you do foster care. What a wonderful service to the world (and something i don't do, but somedays think I should....).

My friend homeschools a daughter with developmental disabilities, and I have worked for years with children with special needs.

Good luck with this, and remember: part of what is wrong could just be her environment, and part is just being in school at times. It doesn't work for kids who don't fit in their box. Period.

My friend's daughter is not able to do math. Period. She is almost 12, just learned to read last year (my homeschooled friend's son who is "normal" only learned to do math and read at age 12 too!!!!). We aren't sure if she just isn't ready but it seems like something more, since some days she can add 9+ 3 and get 12, and some days the answer is 8....there is no rhyme nor reason for this....and she can't read a standard clock. So, my friend accepts her differences without making her feel bad, and instead buys her digital watches and is teaching her to use a calculator....after all, why does she need to do it all in the stand way?

-- marcee (thathope@mwt.net), February 19, 2002.


Thanks for all your advice! I will be checking out the websites you mentioned. We hope that being in a more stable environment will help her in school. She is coming from a very neglectful home where she is getting no assistance with schoolwork or life skills. We are just thankful that her family realizes that they can't provide her with what she needs. The additional challenge for her is that she is bi- polar and suffers from post tramatic stress disorder. Even with all the medication she is on she still has trouble organizing her thoughts and keeping focus. We hope this will improve as well. Thanks again!!

-- Cindy in NY (cjpopeck@worldnet.att.net), February 19, 2002.

I happened to see you mentioned she has difficulties organizing thoughts and staying focused. I wanted to mention that I was trained at the University of North Carolina in their TEACCH method to work with students with autism. The approach is not only for children with autism, but children who have difficulties focusing and organization as well, such as ADHD. The most important aspect of the program is to aid the children in making sense out of their world and to focus. This is done with a variety of methods, the most common being the picture exchange system in which the concepts are taught in sequence. They experience difficulties understanding how the whole works. for example, the child doesn't understand that the body of a dog is connected to the head and tail, an alalogy that their trainers used.

When i first was trained I figured it was a bunch of bull because it certainly didn't make sense to program the children constantly with work schedules, play or break for 10 mins and return to work. I wa sskeptical, but gave it a try. I wa sstunned at the results when I incorprated it into my classroom of 6 boys, ages 8-11 with autism. I even ahd one that was aggressive, after a week he improved and the behavior diminished.

You can get more information by going to www.TEACCH.com

also try the dotolearn.com site, its a wonderful site with lots of good information and free curriculum program. hope this helps.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), February 19, 2002.



Moderation questions? read the FAQ