Homeschooling with dyspraxia?

Question

I have a friend who wants to homeschool her son who has dyspraxia. Does anyone have any advice on how she can go about this. There are many problems and public school has not helped.

Answer 1

I too have a son with sever dyslxia, thats why 3 yrs ago we truned to homeschooling our son, becuase the school board here has fought us in helping him the way he needs.

So we took his education in our own hands, its been the best move ever for him. See our son went from D's & F's, to A's & B's.

See our son is in the 5th grade, but is behind a grade in reading & math. It takes ALOT of patients, love, & understanding. Let them work through it on their OWN pace, thats the beauty of homeschooling. You can work at teh childs pace, not what the school wants him at. So they in turn rush the child, where inteh long run, there even futher behind, then they were to begin with.

When my son was in public school the kid couldnt even read to me, he sat there & shook so bad. But with ALOT of patients, love , understanding, & hard work, he is now reading to me & his dad.  

I too, didnt know where to turn too, when we decided to homeschool our son. So I went on myspace looking for homeschooling parents, & found so many of them. (Thats the ONLY reason I use myspace), I met alot of wonderful mothers & fathers.

we talk to each other alot through emails, the phone. We bounce ideas off of each other. And also trade school materials with each other.

Look for local homeschooling groups near or around you. Also read up on the web, anywhere you can for the help you need.

Plus, the benifits of homeschooling are just as good, if NOT better then a regular public school. Please tell your friend "DO NOT let ANYONE tell her that homeschooling is a bad answer".

Just remind her that just because they dont like the idea or that its a bad thing to do, dosnt mean its the best thing for the child.

I always tell people, that thats your opionion. And what may work for your child, DOES NOT work for my child. Every child is different!

So far my family is coming around to the idea that my son is homeschooled, & its really not there problem, its ours, & were happy to deal with it, becuase our son is happier, & doing better then the pubilc schools here can provide.

I wish you & your firend all the best of luck there is.

Answer 2

The first thing I would encourage her to do is to read up on it - A LOT.  My son isn't dyspraxic, but he is dyslexic; the one thing I've found is that there is no "one perfect product" to fit kids with "glitches" like this.  It's a lot of patience, trial and error, and willingness to be flexible.

The second step is to clearly identify the goals and skills her son needs help with - to make a road map, if you will.  With things like dyspraxia, dyslexia, and dyscalculia, it's still important to work on skills - the kids can learn them - but to work on them in a way that makes sense to the child.  Traditional curricula probably won't work, at least until the problem areas are "ironed out".  Because of this, she likely won't be able to sit down with a boxed curriculum, look over her plans for the day, and get started; instead, she'll need to "plan it backwards".  Instead of starting with the lesson in order to gain the skills, she'll need to identify the skills that need work and then plan lessons around them.  It takes a bit more research and legwork, but it's definitely doable.

Lastly, I would have her check around her area to link up with other homeschool families.  Unless she's in a very small town, chances are that someone in a local homeschool group has dealt with this and can give needed advice.  It's difficult to go against the flow - she'll have people outside of homeschooling tell her that she's doing the wrong thing, that she needs to have him in ps, etc; it will be helpful to have the support of families that have been there.  

He likely won't learn some of the skills on a "standard" timeline, but that's ok - he *can* learn them.  He may learn them differently, at a different time, and apply them in a bit different way, but there's nothing wrong with that.  Homeschooling, though it won't be easy (at least at first), can give him both the one-on-one help and the confidence to gain the skills that he needs.

Hope that helps!

Answer 3

My son has moderate dyslexia and dyspraxia; one of the wonderful things about hsing is...we've been able to work on his weak areas in private.  He has NO IDEA that he has any learning issues, and the outside world thinks he is wonderfully bright.  If he had gone to school he'd probably have had special services and would be MUCH farther back than he is.  As it is, on the Iowa test he took when he finished 6th grade, he scored a 12.3 composite.  Because of hsing, instead of feeling stupid or inadequate, he feels like the most brilliant kid in the universe.  I don't work on low self-esteem with him...I work on his excessive ego...  Given time and patience, he has improved in every area.  When he was 8 yo I can remember pitching him 80+ balls in his strike zone,and he'd miss every one of them.  When he read, he skipped lines and transposed words, etc, such that what he would read would not make sense.  Now he is 12; he can  hit 'most' balls I pitch to him, and his reading is very very good; he is one of those kids who always has his nose stuck in a book.

Answer 4

Its hard to recommend anything without knowing more.  My son has mild dyspraxia, it is not even noticeable anymore.   The only hint that there was ever a problem is that he is not as adept at things like hitting a ball as most other kids his age.  

It wasn't always so mild though, at one time he had to hold onto the rail with both hands to walk down the three steps in front of our house.  Something that helped a lot was teaching him to ride a bike.  He needed training wheels for a while, but the practice really helped his coordination.

Homeschool would certainly provide the benefit of not being compared to kids who don't have any issues.