I was just wondering what anyone that has a child with autism or severe adhd used as curriculum? i have my ideas of what i would like to use. has anyone had to backtrack with their child from what they have done in public or private school and re-taught what they learned already? my daughter is awesome with cursive but when it comes to print she struggles a lot and it is hard to read what she writes.
My oldest has oppositional defiance and high function autism. We have had good luck for Math with Math U See but what we do is watch the video at the beginning of each lesson and then I let him do as many as the worksheets in that lesson as he can (he knows he has to do at least 2). This has cut out the tears and fighting because he feels like he is in control and he can go at his pace. For grammar we are using First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind Level 2. He is in second grade. We sprinkle in some of Erica’s unit studies every so often to change things up. For science we are using Abeka for now but I am not entirely happy with it. I think next year we are going to try something new, hopefully I find something at the home school convention that we love. For reading and writing we are using IEW PAL and that is working out really well. I hope this helps!
yay thank you so much! this did help! i will look into math u see. for science i’m looking into apologia astronomy (my daughter loves space and dinosaurs) i might break up science with unit studies on smaller scales subjects. and for geography i’m going to be doing erica’s road trip usa. thank you for answering!
I have a child on the spectrum with many additional learning impairments. For Lang Arts, this depends on your child. We used Horizons early on. As he got older we used Simply Grammar (Simply Charlotte Mason) and Easy Grammar. He became more frustrated with the Simply Grammar, but didn’t feel that the Easy Grammar covered enough. We have also tried Lifepac, but again I feel that it doesn’t cover enough. We have always used Handwriting Without Tears for handwriting (another favorite from my classroom). My child still loves this! History we use Erica’s Road Trip USA and Abeka (love their history). Literature, I choose a book a month that we will cover. Then I find an excellent lapbook that correlates. Memoria Press covers this area nicely. We attempted Math U See also, and it worked well in the beginning. I have since switched him to Touch Math. They provide computer based for younger ages and downloadable for upper ages. Make sure you use coupons if available, and click on the homeschool link on the right. This will save you from paying the public school $$$. (I used this program with my students when teaching in a self contained classroom in public school.) Reading is an area of struggle, and I am still researching. Science we use Real Science 4 Kids. This program was developed by chemist mom, and is extensive without over stimulating. Downside, the experiments are lengthy and you don’t always get results. Spelling U See is fantastic, especially if your learner tends to be dyslexic. I love the rules from All About Spelling, but my kiddo doesn’t learn that way. Typing we use Keyboarding Without Tears. We tried Typing Instructor, but too over stimulating. The neighbor kid loved it! Writing is another struggle. We tried the Write Stuff, but seemed over our head. I find my items on sale, Amazon used, eBay, or local homeschool sales. Hope this helps a bit. One of the easiest things I did was take my kiddo into a Mardel, sat him on the floor with books for a subject, and let him look for a while without my interference. The one he handed me was the one we got! Doesn’t always work, but helps when we are struggling. Best of luck to you.
My eldest son has severe ADHD and OCD. We pulled him out of public school after 3rd grade and ended up repeating the entire grade. He is in 7th grade now. We use Math U See and absolutely LOVE it!! Learning Language Arts through Literature for English. I’ve tried Sonlight and Abeka but liked this one most because it’s more hands on. I tried Apologia and there is a lot of reading, so we have to break it up with extra hand’s on activities. The material itself is great, though. History and Bible is done with Simply Charlotte Masons bible/history/geography units. I just like that it is all laid out for me and I can do it easily with all 3 of my boys together. My co-op group started doing IEW together for writing and it is a struggle for him. I have seen GREAT improvements with his writing overall though, so it has been worth it. We’ve recently changed our diet and have seen amazing changes in him. I never thought food could have such an impact on us but it really does. We have taken out dairy, gluten, and really limit his sugar. His mood swings and outbursts are way down and he is able to focus a million times better during school now because of it. Before we had him on 4 different medications daily and now he only takes 2 only on school days.
2 Likes
My granddaughter is ADHD and bipolar keeping her engaged was often imposible with the standard curriculum . I use things that she can interact with and manipulate . Math U See, All About Spelling , and Spelling U See( made Big difference in her writing). IEW writing A we will be using this year will really take her to the next level in writing. We tested it out last year and she seemed to be good with it. By the way she is in 4th grade. I wouldn’t worry about repeating things that she didn’t catch on to the first,second,or third time. Repetition is the key for them,and one day she will just pick it up and you will be so amazed!
