If you ask April Boden how she feels about homeschooling, she’ll tell you that it saved her family. She says this for two reasons.
First, her husband, who is in the retail business, has always worked weekends, so they had almost no time together as a family while their kids were in public school. The second reason is just as poignant.
April’s middle child, Aydan, is a nonspeaker and has autism. But thanks to persistence and the flexibility that homeschooling provides, Aydan graduated from high school in 2023.
Starting the Homeschool Journey
April began homeschooling her oldest son, Avery, 10 years ago, when he was in the 6th grade. The public school had categorized him as gifted, but his instruction didn’t really change to reflect that designation.
“The only benefit is being able to use the computer room at lunch,” he told his mom at the time. So he asked to be homeschooled. “He wanted to learn what he was interested in, not what they forced on him,” April said.
She and her husband agreed to give homeschooling a try for a year, which turned into another, and another, and another, until Avery graduated high school. Since then, they’ve also graduated their son, Aydan, and continue to homeschool their daughter, Alyce, today.
April joined HSLDA as part of her homeschool journey. “HSLDA is a must have for all homeschoolers,” she said. April used our legal and educational resources, and purchased our student IDs and diplomas. “It's nice peace of mind that you have support when you need it.”
A Fork in the Road
Just as no two siblings are the same, April discovered that Aydan’s homeschool story wouldn’t resemble his older brother’s. At the tender age of 3, Aydan’s public preschool classed him in a special education program with an Individual Education Plan (IEP) where he remained through the elementary grades.
But just as with his older brother, Aydan’s parents were faced with a choice before he entered 6th grade, because the school’s program fell apart due to staffing changes. Instead of an in-person meeting with the district, which is common when addressing an IEP, the school district phoned April and asked her to tour a different school and consider enrolling Aydan there.
After the tour, the Bodens felt very uncomfortable sending him to that school.
“During our meeting to discuss his placement, the school staff made it known that Aydan was on a ‘life-skills’ track, and they had no intention to give him a high school diploma or teach him academics,” April said. “I made the decision right then to homeschool him and never looked back.”
Persevering on the Path
Their choice to homeschool came with sacrifices. Instead of returning to work, April continued to stay at home and teach their sons, and then their daughter when she began school.
April willingly embraced this decision. “I shudder to think what would have happened had Aydan remained in traditional school.” The school had already concluded Aydan was unfit for academics.
“As soon as I took him home to educate him, I started teaching him classic literature, music, and age-appropriate history, with little evidence at the time that he understood me,” she said.
But she was confident her son was capable of more. They just needed to find the right program to discover how much was locked inside of Aydan, waiting to come out.
Figuring out how to teach her son without having any idea where he was academically was extremely challenging. Still, she decided to work from the starting presumption of intelligence, even if Aydan couldn’t demonstrate to her at that time that he understood anything she was teaching.
A communication method for nonspeakers called Spelling to Communicate (S2C) changed everything for Aydan. The method “empowers nonspeakers to overcome communication barriers posed by traditional oral communication by pointing to letters on a board,” according to the International Association for Spelling as Communication.
Some nonspeakers also use keyboards, displaying their words on a screen. Students learn to use spelling boards with assistance from a trained facilitator, while parents and caregivers also learn the technique to continue the method of communication at home and elsewhere.
“We fell into S2C in a magical, serendipitous kind of way,” April explained. A longtime friend of the family happened to be directing the documentary film Spellers, and got them involved in the project in late 2020, when Aydan was 15. “Once I saw the potential [of S2C] I couldn’t un-see it.”
Aydan was featured in the documentary Spellers
The program showed her that Aydan’s potential went beyond even what she thought he could do.
“Once we were a few years into S2C, educating Aydan became so much easier than I could have expected,” she said. “I learned that not only was he understanding me the whole time, but he was likely academically advanced.”
Core to the S2C method is presumed competence, the opposite of what Aydan experienced in public school. The assumption of ignorance instead of the presumption of intelligence bothers April.
“I see so many spellers in our community that went the public-school route and were given certificates of completion at age 22,” she said. “They were labeled intellectually disabled and denied any real academics.”
S2C, like any educational method, has its critics. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association has taken an official position against methods like S2C due to concerns that they discourage independent communication. For many families with a non-speaking child, however, S2C has unlocked the world, proving for them that the issue is neuro-motor, not cognitive. For these families, the ability to have conversations with their non-speaking child is evidence enough.
Homeschooling, together with S2C, allowed Aydan to engage in online learning with typical peers in courses like Common Law and the Constitution. He showed a proficiency in all subjects including math and science, with a particular affinity for history.
A Worthwhile Trek, Despite Obstacles
Even with the boon that homeschooling has brought to the Boden family, it’s not a solution for all the autistic world’s woes. As April pointed out, “Our society isn’t really built for people with autism, so finding opportunities to engage in it is always challenging, whether homeschooled or not.”
Still, April recommends that parents with a child on the spectrum consider homeschooling. She’s familiar with the fears and concerns many parents have about the decision—mostly that they won’t be able to provide enough learning and curriculum and fill the time.
“I like to remind them what school is really like and how most of your time is 'filler' or 'idle,' just waiting for the bell to ring,” April said. “It doesn't take that many hours in the day working one on one with your child to give them a better education than they're receiving at a public school—especially if they have special needs.”
“Sadly, the state of the public school system is not designed for our population and many of our children have experienced trauma from being mistreated,” she added.
Finishing Strong
One of Aydan’s biggest achievements was receiving a high school diploma in 2023—something he wouldn’t have received from his public school. He’s very glad to have been homeschooled.
Aydan graduated high school in 2023
He recently spelled to us (he prefers to use “spelled” over “said” to underscore that he is a nonspeaker) that he is honored to be a part of history—having participated in the acclaimed Spellers documentary about non-speaking persons with autism who have found success using the S2C method.
“I liked being homeschooled and getting to learn rather than doing rote tasks,” he spelled. “I got to do real academics. School rarely teaches nonspeakers. I get to plan best for college.”
Aydan is excited to be part of changing the perspective—still held by many who are unfamiliar with S2C—that nonspeakers are somehow cognitively impaired.
He now attends a day program at the Golden Heart Ranch, which teaches young adults ranching skills and provides community outings. He plans to go surfing this summer and possibly take a college course in the fall. He intends to major in history.
Looking back, April stands by her decision to homeschool. “Taking your child home where they are cherished, loved and valued for who they are is already winning,” she said.