ADHD / Aspergers

Discussion in 'Homeschooling' started by HPC, Jun 3, 2014.

  1. HPC

    HPC New Member

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    My 6 year old was recently diagnosed in the spectrum. I pulled him out of school in April (he was in K) because he was having difficulties, socially and also had a terrible time with the amount of work. He is bright and very creative but struggles with learning anything that is not "his idea".

    I am not comfortable with unschooling, so does anyone have any ideas for resources, curriculum, websites, etc? We are using Singapore earlybird K math, and I skip through it to find things he clicks with at the moment. For LA, we read books (mostly me reading to him) and he sometimes copies a sentence I write in his handwriting book. But I feel he still is not learning much of what we go through. I really need some ways to engage him.
     
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  3. Lindina

    Lindina Active Member

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    My friend's spectrum son likes the computer, so they do videos and programs on that. Anything his mom asks him to do with a book, he resists.
     
  4. 2littleboys

    2littleboys Moderator

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    Bear with me for a moment... I know you're looking for curriculum suggestions, but hear me out...

    Sounds like unit studies might be the way to go. What drives him? What does he really LOVE? Use that as a springboard for everything else. If he likes planes, find books about planes, find drawing tutorials for different types of planes, learn about the science behind getting off the ground, the history of flight and use of planes in wars, etc. See what I mean?

    Once you get him engaged, you can spend 2-4 weeks digging into a topic to prove that learning is much more fun than sitting in a desk spitting back recited information. He'll probably be much more likely to "do school" with you in a couple of months when he finds out how fun it is.

    FWIW, I have an Aspie/ADD son as well. I didn't know that when we started out. I just knew he was extremely bright. We did traditional school at home with mostly Abeka, and it was a disaster, even though he was begging me to "do school" with him. In time, we learned which curricula options work for him and which don't, and now he's a much calmer, independent learner, way beyond his age-peers. Don't underestimate your kiddo. Aspies can certainly surprise you! They tend to be very fast learners, because they naturally dig as deeply as possible into a single topic before moving on. :) My aspie still has a choice in what he learns, to an extent. He was on a Latin kick for a while, so we did 2.5 years of that. Then he was on a geography kick... and more recently, history. One of the things that defines Asperger's is an intense desire to learn about a single topic. Use that to your advantage. I've come up with writing and literature assignments to go with history and geography, for example.
     
    Last edited: Jun 3, 2014
  5. Maybe

    Maybe New Member

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    For my children with ASD, we avoid anything on the computer. Neurologically, that is one of the worst things you can do for a child with ASD. I can explain that more if you wish.

    Also, heavy sensory rich activities.

    There is no one-program-fits-all program. A child with ASD is a child first, the child just happens to have ASD. Check this video out... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsr6Ja8EFC4&list=UUAeQGwuhu_eKj3j-5TDO92A

    This video is very important....

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MCIiPumEQg

    These guys have changed our lives. In fact, when my son was re-evaluated recently, the evaluators were shocked. And my younger son also has ASD. Complete change at preschool ever since I have started to make sure he had lots of sensory activities every day.
     
  6. martablack

    martablack New Member

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    At his age I wouldn't worry about a whole curriculum and let him explore.Try Math games and Literacy Centers (check pinterest or teacherspayteachers.com) You might try ziplock bags or boxes that he can choose from each day.

    Moving Beyond the Page is another great option.

    I also have this page bookmarked: http://www.unitstudy.com/index.htm

    You might also try pinterest for busy bag and Montessori ideas. Cookie Sheet activities.
     
  7. Laura291

    Laura291 New Member

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    I agree with the unit studies suggestion. My son is 13 and has aspergers. He has a hard time focusing for very long, so it helps to keep things varied. For example, in math he watches the lesson on the computer, works some problems on a worksheet, works some on the dry erase board, works some with manipulatives, and does some online math games. If I handed him the book and said "Do number 1 - 30" he wouldn't be able to do that very well, and I KNOW he wouldn't enjoy it!

    For history, we use Sonlight which I LOVE! My son loves to read and that program is centered around reading historical fiction. No text books or memorization, just reading history stories. He retains it very well, and I test him by simply asking him questions.

    Kindergarten is so young, I'd focus on some math and reading, and the rest let him pick topics he likes, and do unit studies on them. You'll find a lot of free and cheap unit studies online, created by moms. I love the Confessions of a Homeschooler website, and she actually has an entire kindergarten curriculum available for sale. Her curriculums pull in multiple forms of learning too - website suggestions, movies to watch, books to read, and recipes to cook that all center around that particular unit.

    Have fun with it! :)
     
  8. HPC

    HPC New Member

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    We are going to see the person who does school evals Sat to see if she has ideas for him. We already did a lot with him in pre-K and his K school was accelerated, but we are sort of at a standstill with learning. It's almost like he has fully digested all the topics from pre-K and K but moving on past that level is a big challenge. I know he is only 6 (actually he'll be 7 in the fall) but I wonder if this is an ASD thing, and how to move with him over that hump. For example, we spent about 8 days counting money, (he can count by 10's and 5's just fine) but teaching him which coin is which and what number goes to each coin is mountainous for him. We made videos with the phone, we watched youtube songs and sang it for days, we played with the money, made a "store" in the livingroom (all keeping the values very simple, like a toy plane was 10 cents, etc) we also looked at some sheets in his workbook. But asked later on how much a dime is, he doesn't know. Same with reading. He knows some sight words, but if he is going through a simple sentence, he will sound out each word (with extreme difficulty) and then once he "gets" the word and sees it again on the same page, he can't "get" it again. He has to sound it out again. It's almost like everything he is "taught" he can't learn.

    I just want to get him to the point he can read well. I read to him all the time (several times a day), he loves books and stories and non-fiction. He loves making stuff. He loves documentaries on animals or anything really. I am not doing "school" with him in summer, but planning what we'll try in the fall. Does anyone with ASD kids have success with memorization songs? I am clueless on this, but it might work for mine (?? or not?). I am really nervous about classical, but perhaps that is what will work better for him.
     
  9. 2littleboys

    2littleboys Moderator

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    Money was a very hard concept for my son to learn as well. My (not ASD) younger son picked up on coins and values easily as a preschooler, but my ASD son was 7 before he figured it out. I'd forget about that skill for a while and move on to something else. The nice thing about math is that it can be taught as a mastery subject, putting all of your time into one type of focus (like addition rather than temperature or geometry), and then moving onto another focus later.

    ... and yes, skip counting songs really helped my son. Really, he can learn just about anything if it's set to music.
     
  10. Lindina

    Lindina Active Member

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    I just found out yesterday that my DGD, age 7, is diagnosed PDD-NOS. She's very bright and reads at about a beginning 4th grade level (according to her school). She was a growth-restricted premie, which her psychologist had never heard of, but when she (the psych) did some research she found that growth-restriction/premie is a sort of predisposing factor. She's tiny, and still has some fine motor and a little gross motor "issues". Since her reading is very high for her age, but she barely passed first grade math with help this year, she might also qualify as LD. I have SO wished that my DD her mother would homeschool her, but that ain't happening. She's in a French-immersion program, and except for math, she's doing well. Well, except for the bully in her class who delights in sending her into meltdowns, that the school will do nothing about.
     
  11. AndreaS

    AndreaS New Member

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    One of my current students was recently diagnosed with ASD and I think the new program we have really helps him. We are doing a lot more theme teaching where it is a whole month dedicated to one big theme and with little projects and hands-on activities here and there. Don't get me wrong I still have them read, trace numbers and letters, color but I always try to balance it with more projects to keep the students interested. I think that a theme like transportation might help (my student really really enjoyed that theme).
     

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