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April is Autism Awareness Month

By Faith Berens,
HSLDA Special Needs Consultant

Did you know that about every 20 minutes a child is diagnosed with autism ? About 1 in 80 children are diagnosed with autism. April is Autism Awareness Month, so I thought I would share some wonderful resources to assist the many families we talk to who are homeschooling children on the autism spectrum!

About the Author Faith Berens Learn more about HSLDA’s special needs consultants >>

Our Struggling Learner/Special Needs Department exists to equip and encourage families who are homeschooling children with special needs. In this newsletter, I would also like to introduce you to some parents who have homeschooled or are currently homeschooling children with special needs, as they offer much hope, inspiration, and helpful ideas.

First, let me introduce you to Sharon Hensley, if you are not already familiar with her. Sharon is a homeschooling mother, special education teacher and learning specialist, who has authored the book, Home Schooling Children with Special Needs. Her oldest daughter, Allison, is on the autism spectrum. Sharon has a fabulous website with lots of curricula, resources, and teaching materials.

Next, I am pleased to share Lise Pyles’ book, Homeschooling the Child with Asperger Syndrome. Lise shares many practical ideas, teaching methods, encouragement, step-by-step directions on how to improve your child’s social skills, and much more.

Lastly, I would like to offer Kristi Chrysler’s book, Autism: Recovery Against All Odds. Kristi resides in Florida and is a certified health coach, homeschooling mom of five, as well as a speaker. In her inspiring book, Kristi shares her family’s journey of autism diagnosis and treatment. I love that she offers reflective questions, Scriptures for encouragement, and ideas for families to make a difference in the lives of others in their communities who are touched by autism.

Curricula Ideas

• Model Me Kids, program for teaching social skills;
• Rethink Autism, Is a Functional Curriculum; has a home use option for homeschooling families; based on ABA therapy;
• Time 4 Learning; an online, computer-based curriculum;
• Switched On School House, through Alpha Omega, is a popular homeschool curriculum; computer-based; many parents with children on the autism spectrum use it and enjoy it.
• For math, perhaps your child would respond well to Teaching Textbooks, which is a computer-driven curriculum. Also, be sure to check out the Trigger Memory System DVDs for learning math facts!

Publishers and vendors that carry curricula and materials related to autism:

• Woodbine House—They have lots of resources, curricula, and good materials. They have a great book titled Activity Schedules for Children with Autism.
• Mayer-Johnson, and Don Johnston, both carry materials and curricula, as well as adaptive equipment and assistive technology specific for children on the spectrum.
• Super Duper Publications—They carry teaching materials, speech and language games, activities and resources.
• Attainment Company—They carry adaptive equipment, teaching DVDs, curriculum, and teaching materials such as alternative curricula and life skills.
• Lingui Systems—This company offers speech and language materials and programs to address social skills, expressive language, and receptive language, as well as auditory processing difficulties, and more.

Some Helpful Websites

• Different Roads to Learning
• Learning Abled Kids
• Autism Inspiration
• Autism Speaks
• Autism Society of America
• Center for the Study of Autism

For more information and resources, please be sure to visit our Struggling Learner website, Please feel free to contact our department again if we can be of further assistance to you.

Blessings,

Faith Berens

• • • • Can You Look at the Clouds and Tell the Direction of the Wind? An interesting phenomenon of wind is that it can blow in multiple directions at the same time, at different heights from the ground. But usually there is a prevailing wind. HSLDA watches the gusts and monitors the prevailing trends of change in the legal climate of home education. So no matter which way the wind is blowing, we’re there to protect your family. More reasons to join HSLDA >>