This year has been an adventure and an experiment for us. And the experiment part has really disrupted my ability to keep up with this blog like I wanted to.
But in two weeks the experiment portion of this year is done. And it won't be repeated. The experiment was a failure in the overall but I learned a lot from it. The failure had nothing to do with the people involved because everyone gave it their best. That's the truth.
The failure came from the outside boundaries that the experiment placed on my child's learning. The time limits and mandatory goals (state required). These are things the could not be changed by any of the individuals involved with my child. These things can be changed by a return to purely homeschooling my son.
Maybe I can explain it in a way that all can understand.
First - time limits. My son was forced to do his work within a certain time limit because those were the times that the tutor was there. And in an effort to keep him from overloading and spazzing while working with the tutor, I would not work on the same subjects on the days she was coming. But time limits mean that they had to work on a subject even when he was overloading and/or spazzing. The end result of the time limit then becomes that while he "does the work" it doesn't stick in his brain.
When we are purely homeschooling, time limits aren't an issue because the entire day is open for learning, not just certain time periods. So we can work for a while, and then he can go deal with the sensory issues for a while. Some days we can get all the school work done early. Some days we finally finish the last of the school work just before bed time. Other days, typically really bad sensory days, we only get a few core subjects done. But I know that when we are working on school, he's able to focus on it. The result is that more of it sticks in his brain. And there are a lot fewer bad sensory days, for multiple reasons. A fun side note is that he comes to crave his lessons and will "remind" me that we need to do work when he's bored or wants time with me. For me that is a priceless reminder that there is so much more to my child than he can express right now.
Okay, now the second issue, mandatory goals. Yup, there's IDEA that says the goals should be designed to meet the child's educational needs. And the state I'm in created an extended curriculum for special needs children that they mandated must be a part of every child's IEP in addition to any other goals. And the mandatory goals are "graded". So the first thing that the teachers do is focus on those mandatory goals. It's natural. It's job survival. Those goals are graded and not meeting them can reflect negatively on even a good teacher. That doesn't mean that the teachers don't work on the other goals. But the time spent meeting the mandatory goals, a lot of which don't reflect the child's skill levels at all, seriously affects the time the teacher can use to focus on the rest of the goals. This is the same issue that teachers for regular education classrooms face - teaching for testing. And it's not a good thing there either.
When we are purely homeschooling, our only "end goal" is that my son finish and comprehend the curriculum that we are working on for each subject. There is no time limit (yup that time limit thing again). If he gets through a lesson easily and quickly, we keep moving on. If he has problems with it, we slow down and go at it from different angles until he comprehends it. I teach it until he comprehends it in a demonstrable manner. It doesn't matter if he "does the work" if he can't show me that he understands it. So yeah, I may be homeschooling him until he's 30. So what? If he's learning and comprehending then it's good.
And since I'm only teaching one child I can spend the time adapting things so that he can demonstrate comprehension. From using his communicators to using pictures to using magnet letters to occasionally using actual words, I provide him with the tools to express himself independently. And we move at the pace of his expressed comprehension. Even though there are frequently random signs that he comprehends more than he expresses. Sometimes it's frustrating for him. (and me.) But he needs to learn to express himself, to communicate clearly. And he is slowly learning that. It helps that he is learning that I am definitely listening. He may not always like the answer he gets but all attempts at communication are responded to with my complete focus. The result is that he is trying to communicate more often. The only exception is when he decides he needs to communicate while I'm talking to someone on the phone. Then he gets my attention when I get off of the phone. (And I know that this is something that is regular to kids. I remember that my brothers and I used to have a bad habit of interrupting phone calls as well.)
Now I did say that I learned some things...........and I did. I learned about some areas where his comprehension either wasn't what I thought it was, or he wasn't transferring the skill to show someone else. I learned more on how to help him use his communicators more effectively. I learned where we were already incorporating things that used to be done mainly by specialists into his everyday regular world. And I learned more things to incorporate. There were many positive things learned within the overall failure.
And in truth, what is failure but a positive lesson in learning that one thing won't work so you should try it again in a different way. Eventually there will be an overall success to go with all the smaller successes that built up to it.
So there is a heart felt "Thank you" to all of those who were part of this experiment for their dedication, sharing, skills and caring.
And this blog is not gone, and not forgotten. I will restart posting when we are once again following lesson plans that are focused solely for my child in the ways that work. And because I have frequently run across folks this year who wonder how to homeschool a child with autism. So maybe I can help some of them get one their feet and going.
