curriculum for special needs, need direction!

[sherry80]

I am posting for my mom, I am homeschooling as well but not with special needs. My mom is homeschooling through a public charter homeschool for 7th grade. They have him doing all 7th grade work and she has to go through and modify as she sees fit. She is finding that she is having to take a TON of time to modify and feels like she is completing his assignments instead of him.
My brother is adopted and is age 13. He has been tested and his reading level is at 2nd grade and math level at 7th grade! He has fetal alcohol syndrome and adhd. So there are major gaps in what he is able to learn.
He has a very hard time completing any type of writing assignments, even math problems take him awhile to write the answer.
She is considering taking him out of the public homeschool option to do her own thing but is very nervous and has NO IDEA where to start.

What curriculum would be best for special needs children?

Do you teach to their level (like 2nd grade level even though child is in 7th grade) or do you teach 7th grade level and modify so child can complete assignment in their own way?

Do special needs children need to get an official diploma? She is worried he would have to take GED and would not pass. Then he would not qualify for many jobs whereas if he goes the public school route, he will still be issued a high school diploma even though he had to modify his work.

Thanks for all the help you can offer, she feels very lost.
Sherry

[merry gardens]

I am posting for my mom, I am homeschooling as well but not with special needs. My mom is homeschooling through a public charter homeschool for 7th grade. They have him doing all 7th grade work and she has to go through and modify as she sees fit. She is finding that she is having to take a TON of time to modify and feels like she is completing his assignments instead of him.
My brother is adopted and is age 13. He has been tested and his reading level is at 2nd grade and math level at 7th grade! He has fetal alcohol syndrome and adhd. So there are major gaps in what he is able to learn.
He has a very hard time completing any type of writing assignments, even math problems take him awhile to write the answer.
She is considering taking him out of the public homeschool option to do her own thing but is very nervous and has NO IDEA where to start.

What curriculum would be best for special needs children?

Do you teach to their level (like 2nd grade level even though child is in 7th grade) or do you teach 7th grade level and modify so child can complete assignment in their own way?

Do special needs children need to get an official diploma? She is worried he would have to take GED and would not pass. Then he would not qualify for many jobs whereas if he goes the public school route, he will still be issued a high school diploma even though he had to modify his work.

Thanks for all the help you can offer, she feels very lost.
Sherry
Hi Sherry,
I don't know the answer to all your questions. I do know of a company that sells educational material for special needs children called Gander Publishing. I use some of their materials. Here's a link to browse their material by subject: http://www.ganderpublishing.com/Browse-by-Subject.html

With a second grade reading level while doing math at grade level, is your brother diagnosed with dyslexia? Even if he doesn't have an official diagnosis of dyslexia, if he's reading that far below grade level it might be worth checking out some materials developed for people with reading problems. Whatever the cause, it sounds like your brother has problems with reading.

My son doesn't have an official diagnosis of dyslexia, but I use material developed for people with dyslexia. He's making better progress in his reading now. Companies like Gander Publishers and Barton Reading and Spelling http://www.bartonreading.com/ have materials and programs developed to help with people with reading problems. They can be used by homeschoolers or public school special education teachers.

Your mom might want to check out some of the thread here discussing what programs various homeschool moms here use for their special needs children.

[Ottakee]

Sherry, Welcome. I have a 21 year old son with FAS. He though can read and spell at a higher level than his math (about 1 st grade math).

One thing she might want to consider is getting him professionally tested for IQ, LDs, etc. He might already have had this done before an adoption. I say this as IF he is not going to be able to work full time as an adult and support himself, they will want to look into disability for him. It is MUCH easier to qualify for disability if you have the paper trail from several years showing that there is a lower IQ, severe functioning issues, etc.

That is NOT to say, not to teach him to the best of her ability and have him do the most he can in life but for my son, he will never had a job that will support him and give him insurance. He might get a part time job for a little extra cash but he will be on disability his whole life. He qualified in less than a WEEK for this because I had a paper trail that showed his special needs over the years.

That said, I really like Christian Light Education for special needs kids. They might have to go to a lower level or go slower but it is a solid education.

Also, at 13 they might start looking at vocational options for him and having him help others in areas that appeal to him---lawn care, fixing things, etc.

[Momto2Ns]

I think it is very important to teach a child at their level. I would pull out of an umbrella that is forcing her to stay at grade level and modify. It won't provide materials that he can learn from. He will only progress when taught at his level. That said, it is difficult to find materials that fit a 13 yo who is reading on a second grade level.

Math is easy, she can probably pick any program she is comfortable with.

For other subjects though, reading is always going to limit him. I would start by working very hard on that reading level and I agree with the pp who said to get IQ testing and also testing for dyslexia. I wouldn't suggest programs without results to this testing (and would probably leave him where he is while I got that information together).

With science and history, I would take a lot of his interest and pick a program that is somewhere between his age and reading levels. She'll have to do most of the reading, but pick something that doesn't require a lot of writing. Read materials together out loud. Make sure it is interesting topically for him.

If she decides she wants to pull him have her take a look at Cathy Duffy's 100 top picks for Homeschool Curriculum. It is a great place to start getting some ideas of where she might want to go.

[Dobela]

:grouphug: to your mom! How wonderful that she adopted a special child!

There are companies the make materials for special needs children. Steck Vaughan (I think I have that spelled right) and Remedia are 2 of my favorite. They are secular and used in public schools but carry topics in all subjects. They were what I used as a special ed teacher often. They both have a good variety of High Interest Low Vocabulary reading materials that are not 'childish' but designed for readers like him. For math, if he is progressing fine where he is, then you can possibly find the same curriculum at a place like Follett Book Services. If not, I would recommend my favorite Math U See. If he is unable to progress into algebra/geometry/etc then I would again look at Remedia for their functional math series that takes basic math and places it in a setting like stores/menus/etc so the child can learn to carry over skills in specific settings.

I second the testing and disability work now. It can make a huge difference later. If he came from foster care, that testing may be very old and out of date, even if the school did it. It would probably be more helpful to just have it redone. Either way, start making a paper trail so that he can receive necessary help in the future. He may even be able to receive disability now. We found that for our dd even though she didn't qualify for disability, it did help her qualify for other programs that help pay for her therapies and such as we have needed them. That in itself has been a big bonus.

[sherry80]

Thank you for all your replies. He has been tested by a specialist and I know she got his IQ scores (very low) That's how she found out that in some areas he was on target and in others way way behind. They said that can happen with fetal alcohol syndrome as it can affect different parts of your brain.
He was adopted from foster care at the age of 3 (he is 13)
I will send her this information. I think they are scared to move out of the public system but at the same time, they are giving him all 7th grade work and expecting my mom to modify everything.
She says it is taking her a LONG time to modify when they could be spending more time on things like social skills which would be better in helping him to be productive in society.
I think using a curriculum at a 7th grade level and modifying it to be at a 2nd grade level makes no sense!
They are thinking that maybe he could work at Goodwill as an adult or something along those lines. She wasn't sure if you had a high school diploma to get a job there but I didn't think you did b/c there are some extremely special needs people that work there.
Thanks for all the help again.
Sherry

[Ottakee]

I would have her look at other math and reading programs, etc. that fit his needs. Some special needs programs provide lower level reading material for subjects like US Government, science, history, etc.--so he can cover some basics but at his level.

Not knowing him, you need to be realistic about what HE needs. Instead of US Government, he might be much better off working on social skills or prevocational stuff.

Honestly, if he were in school, he would likely be getting only the basic reading, writing, and math and the rest of his time would be spent on social stuff, pre-voc training, etc.

I know that many families are against using the public schools but some of them have VERY good programs for kids like him (and my own). My son with FAS is now 21 and in an adult vocational training program. He works at various job sites around the community through his school program and gets help with resumes, job coaching, etc. He just LOVES it and it gives him something to do, a wonderful peer group, etc.

My 14dd just started in the public schools this year in a classroom for the mildly mentally impaired (most have IQs in the 55-75 range) and she LOVES school. She started out with 1/2 days but will be starting full days next week.

Not all programs are created equal but there are some things that are hard to duplicate at home.

If his testing is over 3 years old, I would have it done again--either through the school for free or privately. Having testing every 3 years may become very important for his future. Getting disability, even just a small cash amount, would give him medicaid which is HUGE for people who are unable to get jobs that would provide medical insurance.