Many parents who homeschool do so because their child has an identified or unidentified special need. Too often the school systems do not adequately address the child’s needs and this can interfere with learning. My background includes working with children with a variety of conditions that required special care and interventions for them to succeed in school.
That being said, there are things schools do that help children with special needs. They offer speech/language services for those who have expressive or receptive speech disorders, articulation challenges, and other differences that can impede communication and affect a child’s education and social growth. Those services are also available in most communities, or near them, and insurance often covers the treatments. Speech/language issues can affect reading, because phonics are difficult for the child to understand or produce the sounds. Articulation can affect how well they are understood; a child who cannot be understood can have tantrums out of frustration, especially when younger. Oral language skills are vitally important for every skill imaginable! If children lack these skills it has ripple effects through their education and lives.
If you homeschool, you can get outside therapies for just about any kinds of issues your child struggles with. Insurance may pay for the therapies they receive, too. In school, your child might receive a half hour a week of help, but in a therapy clinic, he or she can get more, and the help will usually be one-on-one. In school, the support can be delivered in a small group, or in a distracting classroom, and not be as effective as it could be in the privacy of a clinic. There should be no stigma to having your child in any kind of therapy. It will improve skills and enable your child to soar through life more easily.
- Examples of special needs that can be supported with therapeutic interventions include:
- Learning Disabilities
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Sensory Integration Dysfunction/Disorder
- Behavioral Disorders (Oppositional-Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, Reactive Attachment Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Anxiety Disorder, etc.)
- Autism Spectrum Disorder
Differentiation
Differentiation is how you modify a lesson or assignment, taking it from what a neurotypical student can tackle, and making it into something a neurodivergent child can succeed in completing. It can mean shortening assignments or time spent on direct instruction, breaking things down into more days, providing more re-teaching, extra time on tests and assignments, and more. I have compiled a list of the most common strategies and have linked it here. I printed this as a teacher and kept it in my lesson plans binder, in the front cover. While planning, I referred to this document to help strategize how to teach to each child. Some years I had six or more students who needed these strategies, and this was a huge help.