Special Needs
DID YOU KNOW that the fastest-growing homeschool population is special needs?
Having the right resources for your special needs student without wasting time searching for them can allow you to breathe more easily.
Testing and Plans are a great place to begin. Susan Blackwell – Teaching and Education Consultant – of Homeschooling The Special Needs Child provides warmth, experience, and a supportive yet professional approach. She is available for curriculum counseling, as well as special needs testing. Blackwell can make referrals for psychological evaluations, help implement accommodations in the daily school routine, construct IEP’s (known as Service Plans for homeschoolers), as well as provide practical assistance to parents for their students.
IEP AND EDUCATIONAL PSYCHO EDUCATIONAL EVALUATIONS are free to parents through the public schools while private evaluations give greater depth and scope.
ADVOCACY and PLANNING are sometimes needed to extract a child from a blase or even neglectful or damaging classroom situation. I have not met a more passionate advocate than Beckye Barnes. Initial consults are free as are her FB Live workshops.
PARENTING CLASSES are beginning to pop up around SC and the US, but two that we have appreciated are The Rankin Institute of Fletcher School http://www.thefletcherschool.org/m/rankin-institute/ and South East Psych http://www.southeastpsych.com/
READING SPECIALISTS abound in SC, but two of Faithful Scholar’s top picks for special needs students are Academic Associates and the Susan Barton Method.
EDUCATIONAL THERAPY is available through Stacy Atkinson, an enthusiastic local therapist. She travels and offers Skype sessions. Email at educationaltherapy803@gmail.com
Elementary and Middle School
- Set goals for your child based upon the areas they will need to succeed in adulthood
- Focus on self-organizing, self-starting, self-pacing equal or greater than academic needs
- Electives should focus on future life skills needs, character development, and mastery
- Subjects do not need to be at grade/age level
- Teach at their level and move forward as they gain master- or remain in constant review
- There is no law that says you must complete a text or level before advancing a grade
- Focus on 180 days of learning and progress at the rate of your child’s ability
High Schoolers
Special needs students require the same credits as other high schoolers but have until age 21 to complete the coursework with a lower level of achievement expectation. To help them meet this challenge
- Set goals for your child based on the areas they will need to succeed in life,
- Focus on self-organizing, self-starting, and self-pacing
- Choose electives that focus on future life skills needs, character development, and mastery
- Understand that math will seldom be a high school math, but it is a math
- Know that other books may or may not be high school-level
- Realize that special needs students often work 365 days and become life learners
- Transcript options such as these are available:
- It will take 4 or 5 years of high school to graduate with a High School Diploma with Exceptions
Special needs is one of the fastest growing homeschool populations at this time. What we are seeing, and what we have experienced, is that parents know their child’s strengths and weaknesses, and that, if given the time to expand upon that knowledge, they are better able to prepare and equip their child for the child’s most successful future. We can tailor-make an educational journey that is focused on strengthening needed areas for their greatest success while skimming over areas that they may never utilize. Bringing our special needs students home is showing greater success than the traditional (special needs) education which focuses on many students of various needs/levels/abilities.
Faithful Scholars is a trusted, experienced, and legal option to homeschool in SC as recognized by the SC State Board of Education with a passion to meet you where you are and grow you forward through your home school moments.
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