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Focusing on special needs areas vs. academics


sbgrace
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I'm just looking for input or thoughts. I don't know how to word what I'm wondering but it has to do with balance or focus.

 

I have two third grade boys. One is dx'd pdd-nos and there are some other things too that are probably related but might require addressing in other ways.

 

I am struggling with how to balance working on weak areas (spectrum related for example) and academic things.

 

I think if I just had this one child I would be doing a lot more focus on working on those weak areas. I'm sure I'd be doing a lot of things differently. But it would be very hard, I think, to have his twin doing "a through e" academically without him. I also have a hard time generally letting go of academic stuff which, as they get older, takes more time.

 

So my primary focus is academic and I try to work in other goals. I'm wondering if I'm making a mistake given, in actuality, the spectrum related weaknesses will be more of a difficulty in life than any of the academic. He can master all the academics and yet still not be able to function independently obviously. Should my primary goals be special needs related and I work in academics instead??

 

If so how would I do that with two same age children? What would the best balance look like??

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I think you should work on academics. A strengths based approach is best. Homeschooling, by its nature, allows daily work on functional skills in a natural context. If you see he needs different supports (e.g. Deep pressure, sensory break, etc.) structure that into the day. Eventually he will begin to notice what helps him and gain indepedence in meeting those needs for support. He will get much farther if he spends time worling on his strengths. That is one of the best things about homeschooling. It seems odd how we educate kids with disabilities these days. For every other child we work on the basics then have them concentrate on their passions. Think about a major in college. However, for kids with disabilities we say, what is your weakest area? Let's spend your energy working on that area. It doesn't seem like a plan for success to me....but that's just my two cents worth.

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We kept moving with our son's stronger areas and slowed down in his weak areas as far as academics. We did the same for his spectrum related issues. Several thing overlapped each other. For him, this allowed the necessary time to keep moving forward in both stronger and weaker areas yet allowed time for his interests outside of these two areas of his life.

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I think you should work on academics. A strengths based approach is best. Homeschooling, by its nature, allows daily work on functional skills in a natural context. If you see he needs different supports (e.g. Deep pressure, sensory break, etc.) structure that into the day. Eventually he will begin to notice what helps him and gain indepedence in meeting those needs for support. He will get much farther if he spends time worling on his strengths. That is one of the best things about homeschooling. It seems odd how we educate kids with disabilities these days. For every other child we work on the basics then have them concentrate on their passions. Think about a major in college. However, for kids with disabilities we say, what is your weakest area? Let's spend your energy working on that area. It doesn't seem like a plan for success to me....but that's just my two cents worth.

 

I have been doing a lot of thinking on this topic myself, lately. You are right, it does not sound like the opinions you have expressed are the popular approach these days. It gives me more to think about. Thank you for sharing your thoughts :) !

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I think your problem will go away in a year or so when most of the academics become more individual. At this point, Trinqueta goes off to work by herself a lot of the time after I've gone over an assignment with her. So, I spend 5 or 10 minutes presenting math and then she goes off for 30 or 40 minutes to work on it. She reads history and science topics by herself and then we discuss. She goes off to write something and then I help her edit. While she's off by herself, I work with Geezle who still needs me to keep him focused and moving. As one of your twins moves into this phase, it will be easier to taylor each child's curriculum to their needs. It's also easier to get to extracurriculars when everyone can be dropped at the door or wait quietly.

 

I do think that working on social skills, language and emotional control with an asd child is critical to their future employment prospects. It does them no good to be able to handle college academics and then not be able to hold down a job. They may not qualify for services because they went to college, but they can't support themselves either because they can't handle the social interactions necessary to hold a job.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I am focusing on improving my child's challenges with dyslexia, SPD, ADHD, anxiety, etc. rather than academics or school work. She is in grade 6 public school and will be taking standardized tests this year for Math and English. Rather than spending the limited time to try to help her pass the standards, I am planning instead to continue with Orton-Gillingham tutoring, vision therapy, working memory training, yoga, occupational therapy, etc.

 

My hope is to improve her challenges by the end of this summer so that she will be able to start catching up academically in Grade 7. After the first term in Grade 8, the school puts special needs students that have little chance of qualifying for university into the lowest pathway in Grade 9 high school where all they will end up with is a certificate instead of a four-year diploma or apprenticeship.

I do think that working on social skills, language and emotional control with an asd child is critical to their future employment prospects. It does them no good to be able to handle college academics and then not be able to hold down a job.

 

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Hi sbgrace--Are you still reading this thread and looking for a discussion of this? Sorry we missed it over here! This would have been great on the learning challenges section of the board too. This SN section is more for the medical and specialized stuff.

 

Your issue is one a lot of people face. You might find it compelling to go back and find posts by people like 8Fillstheheart, where she talks about how she got the academics but had regrets and hindsite on other areas. My dd doesn't have spectrum, so it's not social or ABA or issues like that we're balancing with academics. You'll get people who say nurture the passions, xyz comes later. There are some things that DON'T come later, and if they do they don't come as WELL. I have NO regrets about the systematic, direct work we did on her weak areas, and if I had it to do over I DEFINITELY would.

 

I think you have to do BOTH, and you have to do them both justice. It may take more scheduling care. Do you have daily checklists for your kids? Maybe some more organization will help you accomplish your goals. Break your goals into tiny steps that are reasonable that you can accomplish and weave into your day. Don't have grand schemes, just little things. Say you know you want to work on social skills. You have a pile of options and you work on it for 10 minutes twice a day. You weave that into your schedule. It doesn't supplant anything; it just finds a spot in your day, just like bathroom breaks and snacks and everything else. It's just one more thing you do. Maybe you have longer things? Well then that longer block of 40 minutes with him to work on xyz gets scheduled opposite a longer thing your other dc needs to do. That way nobody is neglected and everybody knows upfront the plan. And then you probably have to find another thing for 40 min. that you do with the other dc to balance that out and keep everyone happy.

 

So if you're not using checklists yet, that's my advice. See how much you can make happen. You can only make happen what you get make happen, but sometimes there is room to squeeze those goals in if you break it into little chunks and just nibble, nibble. That's how I do my ds' stuff (speech therapy work). Just nibble, nibble, little goals. It's not either/or. Sometimes you can weave your social therapy goals and an academic subject together. We do that with speech therapy. We know we're working on turn-taking and particular sounds, so I pick say a math game that allows us to work on vocabulary, turn-taking, AND sneak in some math. To him it's school, but I know I was doing it for the speech and social. Let your goals carry over like that.

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Instead of looking at it as focusing on strengths or weaknesses, I have had better success to see it as working on whole child development. Whenever I sit down to plan, I set goals and targets in all areas of development. I then try to see how I can knock off as many of those areas with the least amount of work for ds. I do also tend to think about what is impeding his overall development the most, and put a slight emphasis on that, but not at expense of the other areas.

 

 

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