Special Needs Homeschool – Difficulties and Accommodations

I can’t tell you the amount of times I have heard, “But they look so normal”, “What’s wrong with them? They look fine”, “But he doesn’t look like he has Autism”, “She looks like a normal little girl”. Yes, if I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times. When I took Christopher for his IEP evaluation, (back when I thought he had to go to public school to get services) a really kind lady sat down with me and explained to me that I was going to have to fight for the services that my children needed, because they “look normal”. It really is a shame that people have such a stereotype of what someone with a disability should look like. I hate it, but for readers sake, I am going go ahead and let you know the specific disabilities that we face, what that looks like for schooling, and a few accommodations we use.

(All diagnoses are linked to an explanation of the condition. It would take me a while to list out every symptom we face, so I hope that if you aren’t familiar with a DX you will take the time to look it up.  )

My daughter, beautiful child inside and out. Charming, talkative, friendly, tender hearted. She comes with a list, as do most.

• Chiari Malformation 1
• Syringomyelia
• Amblyopia (lazy eye), Farsightedness, Strabismus (wondering eye), Plain old poor eye sight.
• Reactive Attachment Disorder
• ADHD
• Early On-set Bipolar Disorder
• Co-Morbid to something Conditions (big ole list)

Our school struggles seem to change. Last year was our hardest year yet. This year we seem to be making headway. However, tomorrow we could all wake up with a new challenge. So, for the sake of having something to write about later (haha) I am going to focus on Hailey’s struggles so far this year.

1. Vision- This is an on going struggle. Hailey does not see 3D, often has blurred vision, her eyes get tired easily because they have to work REALLY hard. Her vision is often changing, sometimes getting better, and sometimes getting worse. She has trouble tracking, so she often skips around in her reading, making worksheets difficult at times. Fine motor skills like, cutting, gluing, coloring, etc. are often a challenge. Hailey rubs her eyes a lot making her glasses dirty, so we often have to stop and clean her glasses.                                                                       The most common accommodations we make for her vision is, Making sure she has a lot of light, tracking strips, at home vision therapy, less work sheets,  glass cleaner on hand and ready, regular breaks, raised lined paper, bigger and often darker print for books, Book light.  
2. Chiari Malformation, and Syringomyelia- Most recently this has caused Hailey head aches when looking up, and back and neck aches. SO, looking at the white board, looking down at her paper for to long, sitting in one spot for to long, looking up at a computer screen, all hurt her. Accommodations include, A laptop so that the screen is at her level, and can be moved, no white board instruction unless she is standing, and the option to read while sitting on her bean bag.                         
3. Attention/Anxiety/Sensory- This is a hard one. We go through different levels with all of these. Currently Hailey is Medication free, and so keeping these things under control has been a challenge, however she is doing better then expected. She struggles with staying focused on what we are doing, and her anxiety causes her to obsess over a particular subject, or thought. If we have an activity outside of the home, it is difficult for her to focus on anything else. Having  2 toddlers running around has been particularly challenging for her. The TV, dishwasher, washing machine, babies crying, me teaching her brother, the phone ringing are all very distracting to her. Obsessing over one topic often hinders her ability to focus on school work. Her anxiety often causes her to become over emotional, and irrational.                                        Our most common accommodations at this point are: Redirection, Redirection, Redirection, Headphones, Ear Plugs, More hands on and teacher involved curriculum choices, Chewing Gum, Erasable ink pens, Portable CD player, lot’s of breaks, fidgets, Redirection, Redirection, Redirection. :)                                                                       

My oldest son. Funny, intelligent, handsome, loving, silly. He also comes with a list.

• PDD-NOS (ASD)
• Sensory Processing Disorder
• ADHD
• Asthma
• Severe Environmental Allergies
• Food Sensitivities
• Over active Bladder

Christopher is in Kindergarten this year. Last year I didn’t know what to do with him. We were in the process of getting his DX. I put him in Mother’s Day Out. It was really good for him and me. This year he is schooling at home, and I am still figuring out what things he struggles with as far as school goes, and what accommodations he needs. (I’ve had 3 years to figure Hailey out) He seems to be way more complicated then Hailey. ‘That was my disclaimer to the following information.’ :)

1. Sensory- This seems to be one of the biggest struggles for him. Christopher is both Tactile Defensive, and Sensory Seeking. He crashes, wiggles, flips, leans on the table, hangs upside-down in his seat, stands up then sits down, stands up then sits down, runs into people, get’s up from his seat and flips down the hall, lays on his paper, bounces, and so on…… But,  let him get a little glue on his finger and it’s freak out central. There’s really no consistency to his behavior in regards to SPD. He also has noise sensitivity, I have to be aware of the lights, smells, and noises in the room, as these things could send him into meltdown mode. Sure it may seem like he is pitching a fit because something didn’t go his way (which he often does), but rest assured if I take time and pay attention to what is going on in his surroundings, I can avoid several meltdowns.

2. Attention- This goes hand in hand with SPD. Again, he NEVER SIT’S STILL, NEVER! He loses focus on a subject quickly. His first and last name has 16 total letters, we rarely make it through writing it because he loses interest. Counting to 100, same thing. When he loses interest he become silly, saying things like, 1,2,3,cat,7,8,bologna on your head with ketchup on top. He’s actually really intelligent, and is ready academically to move up to first grade in many subjects, but it’s so hard to get him to focus that I haven’t moved him up. Having the toddlers does contribute some to his focus issue, as well as a distracting environment. Oh, and lest I not forget about blurting. When Christopher is thinking about something, or distracted by something said, or thought, he will often interrupt loudly blurting out whatever it is he was thinking about.                                                                Accommodations? No I didn’t forget. (LOL) I’m sure in years to come I will have a better handle on what accommodations need to be made for Christopher. But for now I am still learning with him, and trying out different things. He does have a set of head phones that he uses with a CD Player, We have a weighted neck wrap that we use to try to calm him down. We use deep pressure to help him focus, and we take lot’s of breaks, and laugh a lot. (if I didn’t I would lose my mind)

   

3. PDD-NOS or ASD – The biggest school related issues that this causes is, SPD, Attention, Meltdowns, irrational need for perfection, followed by intense anger when things don’t go his way. We already talked about SPD, and Attention issues, now let’s talk about Meltdowns, and Perfection. Meltdowns happen often, and sometimes without warning. It affects his schooling because if he is in meltdown mode, there’s no way we are doing school. For more information about meltdowns, click this link- Meltdowns                                                                                           I would say the thing that get’s me the most frustrated is Christopher’s unwavering need for things to go exactly as he planned. Let’s say he is coloring a picture, and he accidentally get’s a blue mark on a section that was going to be red, he would then proceed to cry, flap, crunch up the paper, and refuse to color anymore. Or, like right now he has it in his mind that he needs to draw his letters, so no matter what I say, that is what he is going to do. Really there is NOTHING I could do to change his mind, or make him understand that it’s ok to mess up, and to compromise. As far as accommodations go, there have been no real tangible items that I have found particularly helpful. I am just studying a lot, praying, and moving on.

 

Whew! That was difficult for me to write. I know I have left so much out, but I hope that I was able to give you a small glance into our life of Special needs Homeschooling. There are so many different needs a person could have, and just because they aren’t seen, doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

If you are a homeschool mom struggling, with or without special needs, let me encourage you by saying this. Last year was a horrible year for us, but this year, despite all of the changes has been a wonderful year.  I’m so glad I chose to continue on our Homeschool journey. EVERYONE has at least one bad year, day, month, or hour, where they wonder if they can do it anymore. STOP, BREATH, and RE-ASSESS. Decide what it is that is making it go so wrong, and then try to figure out how you can fix it. Most of all PRAY! God is the only one who can give true peace to the weary soul.

 Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28