As an educational consultant for families of children with special needs, I have been serving families who have elected to home school children. Many have done so out of conviction that they are called to do so. In recent years, however as public schools have been pushing the required state standardized tests, I'm seeing more and more clients who have concluded that public education is failing children -- those like your son.
While the schools may prepare" Individualized" Education Plans documents for the child, the reality is that many IEP documents are merely a collection of state standards -- not goals that actually teach the child or offer remediation.. Schools are supposed to guarantee an appropriate and individualized education program.
There are several reasons I've seen for this:
1)students are being placed in mainstream classes to ensure schools can include them in the end of year testing groups. The mainstream class has a "special education" teacher - but that one person must divide his/her time among too many students to really teach skills - they only have time to help kids to get the work done.
2) there aren't enough highly trained and experienced teachers who are really familiar with Asperger's students - so their approach is not always a good match for the child's needs.
3) the schools march all the kids at one-size fits all - and you know for ADHD, that won't work.
4) large group instruction settings are seldom appropriate for kids who are easily distracted.
5) Asperger's students are often unable to handle the tasks they are asked to do (like moving beyond the literal levels of thinking to answer questions on reading materials).
So, to summarize, if you have an option to put your son in a small group setting where they can truly individualize, where they can minimize distractions and support weaker skills, it's going to be a better placement for your son! If there is any way you can make it work, I'd go for it. If cost is a factor, you may get an advocate who can help you work with school to get your child's placement changed to such a setting. Good luck.
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