Re: Homeschooling vs Public School

[Guest guest]

Well I have no Idea what Eci or ppdd stands for but i have autism i am 27 years old male and was sexually abused most my life in the public scholl system kids found out that i was very different and unable to communocate and what ever they want with me. To this day i am still terrfied of about 10 to 20 year olds when they come up to me i cringe even in church and am very scared. So again is up to you interaction is important my parentz thought the samething but school was just a nightmare. If youdo put Him in public school try toget a pass to see him through out the dayand make sure kids and teachers are actually dpending time and or teaching.Sent from my iPhone

My son is 2 1/2 and I am struggling with the decision to home school or send my son to school. I know he is still young but since we still receive some services though ECI, PPCD is just around the corner. I see so many e-mails back and forth about school districts and ARDs and it all seems so scary, how do you make the decision to send your child to a public school or to home school? I know that social interaction is important, but at the same time I hear some schools isolate our children and restrain them.

Any suggestion or person stories how you made this decision would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Jenna

[Guest guest]

We have also had success in the public school my son attends. He started at age 4 in speech therapy and has gone there ever since. He's in 4th grade now. He absolutely loves going to school and loves his teachers. There is a lot of structure and routine that he thrives in.

I think one of the biggest deciding criteria would be whether you believe your child could communicate to you if he was being abused in any way. My son has told me about a bullying situation on a bus so we could address it and resolve it. (The child was bullying several students and now has a monitor on the bus.) I am in constant communication with the teachers and staff and even past teachers so I feel like there is a good support team. Plus my NT daughter goes to the same school now and she knows to let me know if anything is going on. It scares me to death that a teacher or another student could hurt my child but we are monitoring it constantly.

-Sandy H.

To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy Sent: Thu, May 13, 2010 9:28:25 AMSubject: Re: Homeschooling vs Public School

Jenna, I have very different experiences from my district and my life. I would encourage you to look at the program your son would be put in. Contact your ECI coordinator and ask to see the PPCD program your son would go in. Both my boys made/have made incredible progress with public schools. I am also AS and had a wonderful experience all the way through school. If you were hoping to do homeschool before you had your son diagnosed, I'd still look at it. If the PPCD program looks like glorified day care, then by all means homeschool or look for another solution. But some programs are really good. Melody > > > Jenna > I have to say that taking my son out of school was the best thing we ever > did. He was in public school until middle school and during that time we > had 2 due processes with the school and endless hours of meetings that got > nowhere. It was basically babysitting

and not even decent babysitting. > Life for him and us was SO MUCH BETTER when we homeschooled. I did hire > teachers that I trained to work with him but I supervised the program. So I > was not the direct teacher. I know it can cost a lot to do this but you > have to do what is right regardless. Now he is very successful and I know > he would not be anywhere near where he is today if he stayed in school. > So I feel homeschooling was definitely what our son needed. > > > * [Texas-Autism- Advocacy] Homeschooling vs Public School > > > > My son is 2 1/2 and I am struggling with the decision to home school or > send my son to school. I know he is still

young but since we still receive > some services though ECI, PPCD is just around the corner. I see so many > e-mails back and forth about school districts and ARDs and it all seems so > scary, how do you make the decision to send your child to a public school or > to home school? I know that social interaction is important, but at the same > time I hear some schools isolate our children and restrain them. Any > suggestion or person stories how you made this decision would be greatly > appreciated. Thank you, Jenna > > >

[Guest guest]

Melody,Where id you go?  where id your children go?  I am interested in hearing how public school programs work, and what they do.

[Guest guest]

Jenna even if my child was in a room with 100 of America's most talented kids he

wasn't getting social development. This required 1:1 and a program that

addresses the higher social processes.

I don't believe homeschooling keeps your son away from social experiences.

He'd just be learning how to cope and recall the sequence of events...but not

truly understand the dynamic social world. I didn't want my son mainstreamed

and just coping...I wanted him in the mix. In the club...having slumber

parties, having sword fights, playing on a sports team.

The school creates a highly structured environment that is predicatable. Fine

to keep them in special ed forever....not fine for the real world. When I

looked at our District's SCD (severe autism class) that my son qualified for I

realized that they were just preparing him to move through the system. Even

when he would mainstream...he'd just be coping and academic...but missing the

bigger picture, friends, complex social cues etc...

So it depends on your goals. If you want him to be successful in a classroom

setting...many of the districts are designing programs that will help a child to

thrive in a structured setting.

If your goal is that your child will live a dynamic life in the real

unpredicatable world..I'd look at RDI or Son-Rise. We like Son-Rise.

http://www.autismtreatmentcenter.org/document.php?sectionid=18 & documentid=19 & med\

iatype=video & mediaid=31 & part=0

All the best with your sweet little one!

>

> My son is 2 1/2 and I am struggling with the decision to home school or send

> my son to school. I know he is still young but since we still receive some

> services though ECI, PPCD is just around the corner. I see so many e-mails

> back and forth about school districts and ARDs and it all seems so scary,

> how do you make the decision to send your child to a public school or to

> home school? I know that social interaction is important, but at the same

> time I hear some schools isolate our children and restrain them.

> Any suggestion or person stories how you made this decision would be greatly

> appreciated.

>

> Thank you,

> Jenna

>

[Guest guest]

Haven,First, realize I did not have an IEP and was not in special ed. I was an honors student that just didn't socialize. This was in Paris, TX at Paris ISD. I became extremely involved with Academic Decathlon and UIL academics, mostly Math and Science events that I was strong in. Those start in middle school for those that aren't aware and are a great way to get your HFA/AS child involved. I 100% believe that.

My boys are in Plano schools. I have one at Beverly Elementary and one at Pearson Early Childhood. Beverly works very nicely with me, as does Pearson. My youngest is about to do his transition from PPCD to K. Academically he is ahead of his peers, socially he is maybe a year behind (which is a HUGE improvement) and verbally, he's nearly on target with his peers.

My oldest is exactly where he needs to be academically with accommodations because of poor hand strength for sustained writing. He has had one sleepover this school year. He's been invited to all his classmates' birthday parties, most of which he was able to attend (minus two because we knew better than to sensory overload him). He's still considerably behind in his speech, but has made great strides this year. Behaviorally, he's a changed child. He used to tantrum several times a day with throwing, and hitting, screaming, kicking, knocking things over. Now we usually just get a scream and 'I'm going to my room.' (One of his sentences!) Socially, he suffers some from his speech, but most of his classmates are accepting of him which makes a world of difference.

I'm truly blessed to have such a wonderful school to work with. MelodyMelody

 

Melody,Where id you go?  where id your children go?  I am interested in hearing how public school programs work, and what they do.

[Guest guest]

<<I know that social interaction is important,>>

As a homeschooler, I think it is very important to point out that "social interaction" is available with both options of schooling. Whether you choose a good public or private school situation, or homeschool, your child can still have rich social opportunities. The main difference is that with homeschooling, you have more control over the type of social situations and people your child spends time with. These people also tend to be more open and accepting of people who are different. There are many homeschool support groups and organizations that offer social gatherings, clubs, sports and enrichment classes. More and more, homeschool groups are even sending teams to compete in various competitions against public school kids. Anyone who tells you that homeschooling equals social isolation or lack of social opportunities just doesn't know what they're talking about.

Gaylen

[Guest guest]

Melody,Thank you so much for the input.  But my son received nothing good in his early years in PPCD.  I wanted him out of there, and the principal manipulated me into keeping him in there because their policy is to keep special children --especially those with ASD in self-contained forever if they can get away with it.

At the beginning of the'06-07 school year, my father died suddenly, and I was devastated.  He left a lot of things in disarray.  He was caring for our mother who had had both a stroke and a heart attack.  Anyway, long story short, I then had to also start caring for my mother.  She is pretty independent but couldn't live far away from help, so I moved her out to our farm.  She has her own house, but is just across the driveway.  None of my siblings helped to move her out of the old house or into the new.

Anyway, I had my hands full that year, but had really planned on learning to advocate that year because I knew my son couldn't demonstrate any knowledge of academics.  He was about to turn seven.  Then an informant told me that because the teacher in the PPCD was so " good " , they crammed sixteen children in there ranging from age three to twelve.  My son was the highest functioning child in the room and the best behaved.  The informant told me that they had there hands so full with the kids who had more severe disabilities and with many with behavior issues, that my son was ignored and left to stim back and forth across the room for several hours out of the day.  He was simply being neglected.

I advocated and the teacher, from what I hear, threatened to quit if things didn't change, so the district reluctantly hired another PPCD or " life skills " teacher, and they put the older kids in there.   I tried to talk to this teacher about the way my son learns and he was very abrupt and said he was going to teach the way his mentor teacher taught him to as " she has twenty-five years experience in special ed. "   I told him " special ed was different from autism and auditory processing disorder.  He looked clueless and couldn't even explain to me anything about APD.  The only experience he had with ASD was when he student taught in high school they had ONE student with ASD.

He set the classroom up like a traditional classroom with desks in rows.  The superintendent hired his own sister to be the AIDE.  I noticed that Ethan was not progressing, so I set up a time to observe in the classroom.  What I saw was a teacher who taught strictly auditorily with NO visual backup who was teaching the IEP of the lowest functioning child in the room.  He lectured.  My son was lost.  The AIDE spent the whole time with her rear leaned up on the teachers desk with her arms folded as she daydreamed.  The OT did come in, and after about ten minutes, I looked up to find the superintendent and curriculum developer in the room watching me!

They called me out in the hall but on my way out the OT stopped me and whispered, " Just let him stay in here; he's happy in here. "   Is the goal of special ed just to keep kids " contained " and " happy? "

Out in the hall, I told the superintendent that what I saw was pitiful.  I told him he needed to hire highly qualified personnel.  He said, " You aren't going to find highly qualified teachers who want to work with these kids. "

I asked him where my son would go once he left the elementary.  He told me he would be bussed twenty miles away to a self-contained room within the coop!  Then when I later asked why my son hadn't been taught to read, they said, " Well, duh, he has autism. "   Then later the superintendent said, " I have a problem spending ANY money on a child who is sick so much! "

Our experience has been a nightmare, and my son is so far behind in all areas --especially reading writing and math.  Now, my son has progressed in speech.  We have mini conversations now, but this is due to the hard work done by my husband and I and a lot of OUTSIDE speech therapy that we paid for because the district would not give him adequate speech intervention.

We just got the district to agree to pay for private ESY again as they came up with yet another inappropriate summer program.  This proves to me that they do not want to change, they do not want to have appropriate programs for children with ASD. 

My son is bright, smart, funny, and he can learn.  He is of average intelligence and there is no excuse for him to still be below the the third percentile in reading, writing, and math.I want to move, but every time I mention it to my mother, she starts to cry, and trust me, I do not relish the idea of having to pack up TWO houses! 

I don't want to move just to have to go battle with a different school district if it is just going to be more of the same empty promises.So it has been a struggle to get them to believe that my son can learn, but his outside doctors say he is smart, and his outside therapists say he is smart.  Even Easter Seals and MHMR said there is no reason he should be below the third percentile in these areas.  His educational psychologist re-tested him in March, and she says he's made no progress academically since she last tested him.  What gives??? 

It is hard to know how far up the chain to place the blame.  I think the district gladly took my school taxes for thirty-one years and now it is my kids turn and they can't get the job done, don't know how, and don't want to learn how to.  I think the State of Texas is at fault for not realizing this is a serious epidemic and teachers who teach ASD children need to have an endorsement to do so.

I had to have an endorsement to teach ESL and LEP kids --fifteen graduate hours worth!  So why can just anybody teach a child with ASD without training?  Oh, they do have the Autism 101 fro the educational service center, but the reality is they could have pulled this up on the computer and walked away and still get their CEC's. 

I am so glad you have been able to get a FAPE where you are.  Unfortunately for many of us and our children, it is going to take a lot of advocacy to get things to change in time to save our children.  Yes, it is that important when you consider that if a child does not learn to read effectively by the end of the third grade, the outlook for the future for them educationally and professionally is statistically bleak.

The status quo still has 67% of special ed students unemployed a year after graduation and 37% in the prison system within five years after " graduation. "   Something needs to change.I commend those educators you have had the great fortune to work with. We need more of them.

Hey, I also need to know what SAGE stands for.  We desperately need this organized out here.Thanks for your input.

[Guest guest]

Gaylen well said....I agree.

>

> In a message dated 5/13/2010 3:02:03 A.M. Central Daylight Time,

> jenainwonderland@... writes:

>

> <<I know that social interaction is important,>>

>

> As a homeschooler, I think it is very important to point out that " social

> interaction " is available with both options of schooling. Whether you

> choose a good public or private school situation, or homeschool, your child

can

> still have rich social opportunities. The main difference is that with

> homeschooling, you have more control over the type of social situations and

> people your child spends time with. These people also tend to be more open

> and accepting of people who are different. There are many homeschool

> support groups and organizations that offer social gatherings, clubs, sports

and

> enrichment classes. More and more, homeschool groups are even sending

> teams to compete in various competitions against public school kids. Anyone

> who tells you that homeschooling equals social isolation or lack of social

> opportunities just doesn't know what they're talking about.

> Gaylen

>