Special Needs Learning: Home Is Best!

Myriads of families with special needs children, whether due to a disability or special educational needs, have turned to personalized education as a main factor in their decision to homeschool. Homeschooling special needs children provides individualized learning at home, and a flexible learning environment. These children are free from all the stressors that an “outside” education brings.

Many children benefit from therapies when they are struggling with various learning disabilities that cause learning to be difficult. Dianne Craft, MA, CNHP, and special needs specialist, asks, “Is there a possibility that some of these children could be ‘in-sourced’ rather than being ‘outsourced’ for some of these therapies?” She believes that any of these exercises can be done at home. She advocates that when a child is struggling with learning, it is often a good idea to temporarily set aside formal curriculum and remediate skills first. 

“If your child is struggling in reading, writing, and math, it would be best to just focus on the basic skills needed for these subjects. (See Dianne Craft’s article, Use Both Sides of Your Brain.) This requires almost no curriculum but rather teaching strategies. In Dianne’s article Healing Teaching, the parent and child work together for a short time each day on skills in the subject(s) they struggle with. No worksheets. No independent work. The parent uses easy teaching strategies that show the child how to use both sides of his brain for easier learning.” (The Old Schoolhouse Magazine—Winter 2018-2019 – page 112)

Homeschool families find many helpful home therapies for vision, speech, and occupational therapies to implement at home.

Parent-led special education also allows the parent to “have the opportunity to handpick social situations and activities where their child is likely to thrive, which often results in increased confidence and social interest from their child” (Special Needs Children—Keep Them Home! by Gentle Langley).

Is Homeschooling an Individualized Education Program (IEP)?

Dr. Brian Ray, of the National Home Education Research Institute, writes: “Current research shows that common reasons parents choose to give their children a home-based education are to provide them with a nontraditional approach to education and/or because their child has special needs, and homeschool parents are more satisfied than are public school parents with the special education services they receive. Research and experience show that home-educated children receive, by the very nature of homeschooling, a customized and individualized education.”

Home is best for your special needs child. Not only do they receive one-on-one instruction, but they have the comforts of home, the lack of social stressors, and the attention and love that only a parent can give. Parents with special needs children continue to find that homeschooling has been the best environment to see their children learn and thrive.

Additional Resources

• Homeschooling Your Special Needs Learner: 7 Reasons Why You Can Do It! by Leigh Morrison
• 4 Reasons Why I Keep My Child with Special Needs at Home by Heather Eberlin
• Special Needs Homeschooling: It Can Be Done!
• Episode 66: Special Needs Homeschooling: It Can Be Done! of the Hey, Mama! Homeschool Show 
• Create an Atmosphere Where Special Needs Children Can Grow and Thrive