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Education for children with Aspergers

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Hello. I'm new to this forum. My name is Lauren and I have a son with AS. He is 11 years old and I've been unable to get him into an appropriate senior school for September. I have decided to home educate and have a website up about us. www.homeschooled.co.uk.

 

I am interested in all aspects of Aspergers Syndrome and would like to make contact with other parents and carers.

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Welcome to the forum Lauren, I hope you find it useful.

 

There's a number of parents on here who home educate.

 

Here's a couple of previous topics relating to home education.

 

Home Educating

http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.ph...st=0entry3107

 

Home Education

http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.ph...t=0entry22167

 

I look forward to 'chatting' with you.

 

Nellie xx.

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Nellie, thank you for the links, they made very interesting reading (or maybe comforting... knowing others are experiencing similar problems)... not that I'd wish any of this on anyone else!

 

Reading some of the posts just made me feel not so alone, I could have written them myself. I especially related to areas where people felt they were 'banging their head on a brick wall' with regards to other people's understanding of ASD. I am constantly patiently explaining (read that as battling with) to other people (relatives and teachers mainly) that the problems they are complaining about are the nature of the beast as far as AS is concerned! Not the first and won't be the last evidently.

 

I am in the process of implementing vision and sound therapy and measuring the effects of high dose omega 3 supplements, for my son. The results are so far so good. He has managed to overcome some of his problems in a relatively short space of time.

 

Has anyone else tried vision or sound therapy?

 

Nellie, thanks again for making me welcome.

 

Lauren

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Lauren,

 

I'm glad you found those links helpful.

 

Hopefully you will get some response to your question. Please feel free to ask any questions. There's a search engine and jargon buster in the top right hand corner of the page.

 

Another couple of links that may prove helpful.

 

Auditory sensitivity, advice on how to reduce this

 

http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.ph...t=0entry10353

 

Help wanted in research, visual symptoms

http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.ph...t=0entry11677

 

Nellie xx

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Hi Lauren, great site. I have been home educating our son since I withdrew him from school in February. At the time our son had developed school phobia and other health problems related to his stresses with school. He also has Asperger's syndrome, diagnosed age 9 and is now nearly 11. We have a visit from the LEA next week so that will be interesting. We have also started a social group in Somerset for children with ASD and their families and that is great for us to meet other families in the same situation. When we were deciding if we should home school or not, I could not find any happy stories of children with Asperger's syndrome successfully going through mainstream school and that helped to make up our minds. I even heard Luke Jackson's mum saying that he had left school with no qualifications after a miserable time at school. Luke comes across as an incredibly strong and bright child and he had even written 2 successful books. We therefore decided that even if our son doesn't take any qualifications at home he won't be worse off than attending mainstream, but he will be happier. Good Luck to you and your family.

 

Denise 2 :)

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Hi Denise thanks for your reply. I've just come back from an interview with the head of the local mainstream senior school and it has only served to harden my resolve and reasure me that home educating my son is going to be the best option (the only option if I want him to grow up happy and secure). She bagan the meeting by informing me that she was against home education, so we didn't get off to a good start, and it set the tone of me being on the defensive the whole time I was with her.

 

I'm interested to hear about Luke Jackson leaving school without any qualifications after a miserable time at school. Like you said, he's a remarkably bright boy and has demonstrated amazing insight in to his problems through the books he has published. Even without the qualifications I'm sure there's a niche for him in this world.

 

I'd be interested to hear how your meeting with the LEA goes.

 

Thanks again for reading my website and your reply.

 

Lauren

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One problem with home education is that it can be difficult to take GCSEs in certain subjects that require practical work with specialised equipment rarely found at home. After a period of home education, I ended up attending a boarding school because continuing home education would have been detrimental to science subjects that I was interested in and wanted GCSEs in.

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Hi Lauren,

 

Welcome to the forum. There are some very knowledgable people here, so I am sure you will be able to get many answers to any questions you may have.

 

We home educated our son with AS (now aged 9) from 2002 to september 2004 and found it to be a generally postive experience. He is back in mainstream school at the moment and has just recieved his first statement, so it will full-time for him in September ( the first time since the 6 months he did in reception)!

 

Like yourself, till date we have been unable to find an appropriate school, but live in hope that one day.....

 

We will not hesitate to go back to home education, if when he reaches 11 he is still not placed in an appropriate environment, as we feel he would never be able to cope with the hussle and bussle of secondary.

 

Looking forward to catching up with you around the forum.

 

Regards, tizz

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I always wanted to be home educated when I was at primary school but my parents wouldn't consider it. A retired headmaster claimed that infant school was a waste of time for me and I agree with him.

 

Home education was quite rare back in the 80s but appears to be more popular nowadays. I would definitely consider parents using it if a school fails to provide for their child's needs or their child is unhappy and would prefer to be home educated.

 

Does anyone have any info on how to take GCSEs before Y11? In state schools it is almost impossible to take GCSEs early, but every now and then I have read that some kid gets an A* in some subject well before they are 16.

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Hi Canopus,

 

I believe you would have to sit the child as an external candidate. There are centres around the country which cater for external exam entrants who are under 16. I know there is one in Eseex, but I can't remember the name.

 

The LEA or the organization ' Education Otherwise' would be able to help with answering this question.

 

hope that helps, tizz

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