How to homeschool a child with autism?

Welcome to our Secular Homeschools Special Needs series. Each month we will bring you successful ways to homeschool your special needs child and point you in the right direction for any help and resources you may need. While I do not consider myself a special needs expert, I am a parent of a special needs homeschooled child as well as a special needs childcare provider. This gives me the insight and background to assist parents of special needs.This month, we are tackling autism. Well review some basic facts about autism and discuss how best to homeschool an autistic child. Homeschooling a special needs child will not always be easy but we are here for you. If you have any questions, comments, or experiences you would like to share, feel free to PM or email me, [email protected] Whether you have decided to homeschool your autistic child since diagnosis or issues with the public school system have helped you make the decision to homeschool, we are here for you. First, homeschool is homeschool. No matter the child. You are now their teacher, your home is now their classroom. If your child is in therapy, especially speech or occupational, I recommend discussing your decision to homeschool with them. They should help you implement any educational needs at home to be successful at this.As with any homeschool parent, youll need to think about how best to instruct your child. Teaching kids with autism is no different in that respect. Do you want to create your own curriculum and pick from a variety of formats? Do you want to use an online tool with curriculum, grading and reporting all in one spot? Many online programs are geared towards special needs children, allowing them to learn at their own pace. Will you have to adjust their grade levels? Possibly. Some autistic children are behind, some are ahead and some are spot on grade level. It may take more than a typical school year to complete one grade level of school. That is not a problem. Dont sweat the small stuff. You may need additional programs to assist your child, whether you picked book learning or online learning. There are programs that will read to your child, ones that can write spoken words and even programs that can assist your child  and you  with learning sign language, which is a great communication tool for non-verbal children. You may need to adjust whatever learning format you choose as you go along. Flexibility is one of the many perks of homeschooling. I recommend starting out small and slowly adding in what works best for you and your child....