How Can I Homeschool My Autistic Son Effectively?

@damnitred, @ekko, im going to reach out again and see if there’s a different school that he can go to that may have more support because they did say their sped department was small.

first look up the state laws for homeschooling in your state, if you’re still in GA here’s a link for that https://hslda.org/legal/georgia if you have facebook, look for homeschooling groups in your state & surrounding areas or even just homeschooling in general to get help with questions you may have along the way.. that helped me! kindergarten doesn’t require a lot, it’s really more playing then sitting at a table doing worksheets. pinterest helped me too.

but i wanted to add that although i still homeschool my other children, my son whos also autistic is now attending public school. at first i was against putting him in, i was nervous he wasn’t going to get what he needed in school.. just a lot of thoughts running through my head as a mama bear but after speaking to a few other moms who’s kids had a disability & attended PS, it made me feel some what better. i still had my doubts about it but after reaching out to the school district, they gave me so much info on special education & what they’d offer for my son.. come to find out they had an amazing autism program. he’s now in a 8:1:1 class, his teachers/aids are amazing & i feel like he’s thriving! it took us a while to get here but im glad we are because he’s getting everything he needs that i felt i couldn’t give him at home.

Yes I agree with @ekko, our sped dept is trained in all of the changing and what not. Plus it would be a great thing getting him in kindergarten because it will establish a routine and I’ve noticed with our autistic children they THRIVE off of routine. We have a couple children who aren’t potty trained that we help with. We have several autistic children we work very closely with.

I support your decision to homeschool if that’s what you want, and I am not trying to dissuade you, but if you didn’t already know, it is very possible for him to still attend kindergarten if he’s not fully potty trained.

With his diagnosis and the level of community-based service providers who are already working with him, it would be very likely that he would qualify for an IEP with a robust amount of services. We have several students in our school who are 6, 7, 8+ years old and are not fully potty trained. The special ed staff is trained to change the students when needed. If potty training is the only thing holding you back from sending him and you want more info on how to get things started with the school, let me know. I’m happy to help. Otherwise, best of luck on your homeschool endeavor!

Also working on letter sounds is a big one

I work in the SPED dept at our local elementary so I can help you in anyway possible.

Some things we do to help the kids is get a deck of cards. Sit two out and count the number of hearts, diamonds, spades, or clubs, then when they get good with the counting we ask them to identify the bigger number or smaller number. Then when they get comfy with that ask them to add them together or tell us how many more one has than the other.

Look up state laws, some states don't require you to register at age 5. Might help you be a little less stressed. Look up what route you want to take, how you want to teach. I just had something sent on a math curriculum and it's like a ton of outdoor stuff.

LIBRARIES and the resources they offer will be your best friend and most important!!