Autism : Pre-K or homeschool?

Question

My 3 year boy is in the process of being evaluated for Autism. IF he does have it, she is a VERY high functioning child with Autism. Very few signs , mostly social and he has about 3 to 6 words sentence .He doesn't do well in groups. The pediatrician and some other people recommend that he go to the preschool handicap program in our town. It is from 9:30-3:30 and I am a little skeptical about sending him to preschool every day. I feel that I can get him private speech therapy and do the best for him at home. I was wondering if you knew of any research/studies indicating that children with Autism (HFA) can be served just as well, if not better, at home rather than at school! I know that there is a lot of rhetoric out there and I was really hoping to find some real "facts" or examples even!

Thanks for your input.

Answer 1

I think that homeschooling might be a good decision for him if you are up to it. That way you can change things to be his learning style. Find out if he learns best by interacting with things, seeing, or hearing. Then you can change your school to his learning style so he can learn the most. Also you can give him extra love and care that his teacher cannot.

Most young children learn best with hands on stuff so you instead of just giving him a book to work in can get math rods, history costumes ect. That way he can learn so much while you both have fun!

Answer 2

Teachers who have autistic children in the class have an assigned Aide per Child. To work with the child individually. And they will still be in the classroom to build their social skills (as best as they can). I would send them to the pre-school first and if that doesnt seem to be effective then think about the home-schooling.

Answer 3

I have been where you are and have some thoughts for you. Children MUST learn to interact with others is they are to have any hope of a "normal" life. That being said, how much interaction and at what age is the sticking point. The problem with the public schools is the one size fits all approach. But what are they to do?  My opinion is that 9.30 to 3.30 is to long for a child his age with his condition. Much to stressful. I would suggest about 1-3 hours a day 2-4 times a week depending on how he does. We went with our son to prescool the first 5 times at once per week for one hour and then he started by himself 3 hours- 4 days a week. Don't be afraid to just tell the school what they are going to do. That's what we did with our oldest and thats what we are doing with our 3 year old. They don't like it one bit but they do it! I would advise putting him in the regular pre-school. I would highly recommend private speech and occupational therepy at your home as well. The school can be a valuable resource for you but you need to know the teachers. We have had know it all teachers that couldn't teach a fish to swim but have very high opinions of themselves. I have learned to tell this type that I am the parent and I make the decisions and if I need their help I will let them know. We have had special ed teachers that were surely angels sent to help us. You will know when you meet one of these, there are some VERY good teachers in the public school system. One improved our now 17 year olds reading level 4 years in one semester when he was in fourth grade! He left sixth grade with a ninth grade reading and comprehension level. We could not have done it without her. She loved our son and she loved teaching.  

Good Luck.

Answer 4

We have done both, homeschooled and had our son in public as well as private schools.  He has Asperger's, and we have found that a lot of schools are all talk; they may mean well, but they don't always follow up or provide the things they're required to under IDEA or 504.  My sister has been telling us this for years because she went through h**l trying to get her son help through the public school systems.  One of her friends actually sued their local school for not providing what they were required to have available for kids with special needs; and she won.  I think if more people stood up to the system they would do a better job of providing the special aide, meetings, etc. that they are SUPPOSED to provide.  Too many get away with doing a meager job of it; however, there are schools who have excellent aide if you're lucky enough to find such a school!  So far, we haven't found one.

I've seen my son go from straight A's and being interested in EVERYTHING when he was homeschooled to getting D's and F's in public school, mostly because he was bored, was doing work way below what he was capable of doing; was getting in trouble because of the influence of other kids, copying those with behavioral problems, etcetera.  

When we finally pulled him out of school and started homeschooling him again, not only did his grades go back up, but he was able to learn at his own pace and not be held back because of the rest of the class.  If he wants to do chemistry lab in seventh grade, then by golly, we can do it at home instead of being told he has to wait till ninth grade!  He was so disappointed when they told him that!!  

He also did a lot better socially when we homeschooled.  He was more confident because of the people we CHOSE to socialize with which included his scouting troop, friends at Tae Kwon Do, soccer, and the homeschool groups; and which included people of all ages.  At public school he was teased and picked on quite a bit because he was different, and when he finally stood up and defended himself he was the one who got detention or suspended while the instigators got away with their bullying.  We just had enough of that type of socialization because that's not how it is in the REAL world.  In the real world you have choices of where you work, who you choose to hang around with, and you DON'T have to put up with the c**p that goes on in pubic schools.

Take a look at "Will we ever find out what happened to Hershey?" on this site about what some so-called friends did to one of their "friends".  Hershey had just graduated from high school last year and was working at an auto repair shop.

www.hersheysmemorial.com

This happened in a town very close to where we live.  Since kids with Asperger's tend to copy the behavior of those around them, I think it's important to help them choose their friends wisely.  At least with homeschooling YOU'RE the one who has control over what you and your child learns, at what pace they learn, what is important and what's not, and there's no one to hold him back or force him to do something he has absolutely no interest in.  You know your child better than anyone else, and no one is going to love your child more than you do, or spend as much time with him with his problem areas.  I may be biased because of our past experiences, but when it comes to homeschooling or public schooling there is no other choice for me; it's homeschooling all the way!  But that's just my opinion.

Answer 5

Aww. Im soo sorry =(.

I would probably reccomend Pre-K. If you take your child away from other children, he doesn't have a chance to become more social and interact with others. I would reccomend a small class with only a few kids. It will help prepare him for actual school. Someone who had Autism and got far was Heather from America's Next Top Model. She didn't win, but she got very far and was able to become more social because she was put in a group setting.

Good Luck =)

& Merry Christmas*!

Answer 6

I have a son with Asperger's who is a freshman in high school. I never considered homeschooling him because of the social aspect. Yes he had several social activities that were 'set up' by us but I think with putting him in school, it gave him legitimate social situations. Even though this is my personal opinion, it is up to you to decide what is best for your child.

Answer 7

I have Aspergers/HFA. I have been in tightly controlled school environments and regular public schools. I would choose the regular public schools. If you think you can meet your son's educational needs, there is nothing wrong with home schooling. If you choose that approach, you will need to find a substitute for the social interaction he would get at school. If I hadn't been a regular school environment, I probably wouldn't speak to anyone unless absolutely necessary.

Answer 8

My son has Aspergers.  We now homeschool and I sure wish we'd started earlier then we did.  My son went to preschool and then up through grade 4.   It was a nightmare *sigh*  

At home they can mature at their own pace instead of being stuck with kids that are usually 2-4 years ahead of them socially.   That makes life so difficult for our kids.  

I'm exhausted tonight and don't feel like typing more but feel free to email me and I'd be happy to chat more.

Answer 9

It really depends on a LOT. It's not a decision we can help you make because 1) we don't know your son, 2) we don't know how you would homeschool and 3) we don't know the school system you'll be in. I have a lot of experience, two kids with autism, both in public schooled and then homeschooled.

Preschool was okay for my daughter with autism. A better district and a better program would have helped her more, but as it was, the program she was in (because i didn't know better, we are SO ingrained with the idea that teachers know everything) was acceptable. Anything less would have screwed her up for life. It is a JOKE to believe that schools provide a one-on-one aide for every child with a disability. If you're lucky, you'll have ten kids in a classroom with one teacher and two or three aides. Once a child is older, *if* you can get the school to agree that mainstream is academically more appropriate, you'll have to fight for a one-on-one aide, it is very unlikely the school will just assign one.

As I said, preschool was okay. Once you get past kindergarten, the teachers have very little training in autism, and you're stuck trying to moderate between the regular ed teacher, and the special ed teacher. If you're lucky, the school has it's own sped teacher with autism training, but more likely, any with autism training rotate out between schools, providing consultation, rather than actually teaching within a school. Federal law does not require a teacher with autism training to teach your child daily, only oversee the curriculum.

As for curricula, your child probably learns differently than most other children. Children with autism are usually visual learners, sometimes tactile, and have auditory processing disorders. Once you get out of kindergarden, 75% of learning is auditory, and it is difficult to get modification. We argued for eight months for a different math curriculum for our daughter, and they finally ordered it a month before school let out. Our son was very much advanced, and their idea of a gifted program was a crafty hour once a week.

Socialization is much as the above poster said. To say that socialization at school is beneficial to kids with autism is like throwing a person who can't swim into the water. Kids with autism do not learn socialization from picking it up like neurotypical kids do. I'd go a step further and say it's like throwing someone who can't swim into a shark tank and expecting them to make it to the side. Kids pick up very quickly who is different, and they will torture them from the beginning. They'll poke and prod and tease until your kid loses it, and then YOUR kid will get in trouble for not being able to sneak like the other kids. But I'm not bitter ;-)

Once my kids got past kindergarden, school was a stressful place for them to be. Academically they are both intelligent, but the school could not present information in a manner that suited their learning style. The school would not protect them from bullies, could not provide individualized social training. Both were showing signs of depressed, my older one was suicidal at the age of ten and the younger was self mutilating at the age of eight. six months outside of school, and they were both happier, relaxed. One year out, and my oldest was nearly recovered. My daughter was much more affected. She was labeled as severely autistic at three, but now is labeled as high functioning. She still lacks a lot of language, but part of that was the school not willing to teach her sign or pecs because they thought it would limit her. Outside of school, we did both and she learned quickly and actually speaks quite a bit. She went from a 3yo understanding of math and reading to that of a second grader in less than a year. My son was able to complete algebra by the end of fifth grade, and even better, began to enjoy reading fiction (he's always loved nonfiction) and to be able to understand the characterization, motivation, pragmatics of the story line. Huge for kids with autism.

I don't have research, I do have my own life, and that of several other families with autistic children as examples. I know very few families in school who are pleased with how things are going, and who's kids are doing well. It helps to have private therapists who can consult with you in creating a personalized program, we had an ABA therapist, a speech therapist and a psychologist all of who were supportive of homeschooling and helpful in finding the next steps for my children, both academically, but also socially and in lifeskills. I know it seems overwhelming, but it's quite easy. GOod luck and God bless.

Answer 10

send him to the preschool. if he has trouble socializing, this will help him out of it.

Answer 11

Homeschool. I don't know about research and studies, but there's a lot of anecdotal stuff out there. And if you just think about it, as you already have, it just makes more sense.

I'm just rolling my eyes at some of the comments here.

"if he has trouble socializing, this will help him out of it."  This is precisely one of the reasons you WANT to homeschool him. He DOESN'T do well in groups. Throwing him into a group is like throwing a person who's afraid of the water and can't swim into a lake and expecting them to swim!!!

I'm assuming that you don't believe that homeschoolers stay away from other people the way this person does: "If you take your child away from other children, he doesn't have a chance to become more social and interact with others." The beauty of homeschooling is that you can give your son just as much as he can handle--and easily pull the plug when you see it's too much. He won't get that in any school.

I know parents whose children are HFA or Aspergers--and who homeschool. They ALL believed that school was the right place for their kids because of so many well meaning but ill-reasoned thoughts about what is best for these kids. They ALL regret leaving their kids in the system as long as they did. They ALL have seen their kids flourish beyond anything they would have imagined. They are less likely to be over-stimulated, have more attention to social coaching when in social situations, more individualized stuff--which is precisely what they need. Some parents, for a variety of reasons, aren't willing to or don't feel capable (or simply aren't capable) of really putting the necessary effort into such an endeavour. But it sounds like you do.

I'd recommend homeschooling him. Nobody is going to care more about his progress than he is. Nobody is going to connect with him the way you do.

Check out this site: http://home.earthlink.net/~tammyglaser79...  There's even a blogring link there for parents who homeschool their autistic kids. You'll find more links here http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/webl... and here http://www.nhen.org/specneed/default.asp...

Answer 12

My son is also very high fuctioning (tho I HATE that phrase)  few signs and very social.  He is 10 years old and in the public school system.  It has been a blessing!  He has many many friends and has many forms of 'help' he couldn't get in the early primary stages from a provate school or at home.  Now that he's about to go to middle school, I'm a bit more leery - as children are mean.  I'm looking at The Hill School in my area (Texas).  Its for children who learn differently but its private and not cheap.