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Great article Tonya. My experience here on the east coast has been almost exactly the same....except that I do not beleive my child is autistic and never has been (although could easily have been labeled as such if I had stayed with the public school)...and my child, even after three years of homeschooling still cannot ride a bicycle and still needs speech therapy. We began homeschooling in the middle of the first grade year and in every respect, like the article, it has been the best thing we could have done for our child. Thanks for sharing this good alternative with others.

Great article! It sounds like your daughter is thriving at home and is lucky you were willing to take the leap and give it a try. I love that in just two years you've been able to go from wondering if your daughter will be able to live independently to hoping for college. We also have a son with special needs (intellectually gifted with disabilities) and homeschooling has been such a gift for our family too.

What a fantastic article!!!!

My son was much like your daughter (he was 7 when I removed him) sitting in the back of the classroom away from the other children looking at comic books or other materials to keep him occupied while the rest of the class was engaged in learning. He could not read or write beyond a preschool starting kinder level, and from all told by the so called professionals in the school district he would never do math proficently, read or write proficently either!!! They wanted him to remain in 1st grade for yet another year to work on behavioral issues. Issues they mostly caused because they couldn't consistently provide him with supports and services.

I said to heck with this and removed him from the public school system. He is doing very well and the meltdowns have decreased significantly. He is much more able to communicate to me and to people he doesn't know.

In fact, when we went to his yearly exam with his doctor the doctor commented that he was in a much better mood and was more able to maintain himself during the visit. He also noted that his "creative side" was showing (he turned the exam table with the stur-ups out into a racing pod like the ones on Star Wars). Compared to his last visit when he was hoping all over the room, eating the paper on the exam table, and crying.

He has started riding his bike without training wheels (while he was in school he could barely ride a bike with training wheels). His writing has also improved dramatically given the proper supports and interventions. He has started to write words and make his own books.

I too had the vision of my son never being able to obtain independence, but now watching him interact with others in the community and at home I have no doubt that he is going to be fine in the adult world.

I would encourage any parent, even single parents, to think about the options of home schooling their autistic children. I am single parent and have made it happen and will NEVER allow my child to return to the public school system.

I hope that some of the big autistic advocacy groups start to list this as a viable option for parents and start to advocate for some of the funds going to public schools be shifted towards this type of learning.

Thank you for the uplifting article.

The children that are mentally challenged are Earth Angels...Messengers that help us to understand ourselves and the gift that the Creator has given each and everyone of you...We as Parents are the teachers... but the children become us..so they are the teachers.. :)