Special Needs Classical Education

[merry gardens]

What things do you do to make your child's special needs education a "classical" education?

[Renee in NC]

I'll try and explain my philosophy on this. I have the same expectations for a first grade level no matter the ability. However, *when* they reach that level changes based on ability. My 6yo will be a first grader this year and I expect a first grade level of classical work from her. My 9yo is going to be a 3rd grader, but I expect a first grade level from him as well because that is his ability level.

 

We also aren't totally classical - we were going to be, but I have found that none of us do well studying the same things all year. For that reason, we are following the Core Knowledge Sequence more than TWTM, but with the methods laid out in TWTM. We substitute some materials - we'll use Kolbe Academy's 1st grade English workbook instead of FLL, for example, because I wanted a workbook for more independence.

 

My 12yo is using a textbook for history/geography and taking science and Spanish online. He will not ever do Latin. I would say he is the *least* classical out of the bunch, but he hates history and Latin, too.:tongue_smilie:

[JennW in SoCal]

It's a bit of a hard question to answer because there are as many definitions of "classical" as there are diagnoses of "special needs". So I'll follow Renee's example and try to explain my philosophy and approach.

 

I guess my philosophy is to accommodate and work on the needs but never dumb down the material.

 

For my special needs kid, his challenges centered around all the writing skills that are part of what I think of as integral to a classical education. He could listen to, watch and absorb very detailed and advanced information, process it and discuss it, but his reading and especially his writing level lagged behind.

 

My accommodation was to feed his mind by reading aloud, having him watch documentaries or attend lectures and to encourage him to talk about everything on his mind. He is a very visual child, and a theater kid, so I had him make movies, write scripts or act out what he learned. I also tailored history and science and literature around his interests, and he still wound up covering the full history cycle and has a fairly well rounded general education.

 

Over the years we worked on writing. His thinking skills were in place by all the discussions we had, he just had to get the writing up to speed. Being able to type any assignment helped enormously, and by the end of high school his writing became quite good.

 

We did math on a white board all the way through high school, and for community college he has turned to Disabled Student Services for any accommodations he needs.

[Renee in NC]

Let me clarify that my ds is delayed across the spectrum of academics, not just LD in any one area. For my 12yo, he is on "grade level" but I accomodate his reading/writing difficulties much like JennW. I don't really consider him as "special needs" because his two younger brothers' difficulties are so much worse.

[siloam]

What things do you do to make your child's special needs education a "classical" education?

 

 

I mostly follow WTM recommendations, but do things at our pace and not the "ideal" pace.

 

Heather

[PrincessAriel]

Thanks for these insights.

[Mom0012]

I mostly follow WTM recommendations, but do things at our pace and not the "ideal" pace.

 

Heather

 

This is pretty much what I do as well. I also find that the WTM recommendations curriculum recommendations aren't great for my ld student. He needs more explicit and intense instruction than many of these programs offer.

 

The other thing that I will do differently is wait as long as possible to introduce a second language. My son has language-based learning disabilities, so there's no way I'm going to confuse him with two different phonics systems and vocabularies when he's having enough trouble with one.

 

We do lots of read-alouds and audiobooks as well and this has been a tremendous benefit for him.

 

Lisa

Edited August 8, 2010 by LisaTheresa

[RamonaQ]

I feel like a ding-dong since I don't really know exactly what a classical education is. :lol: I have read the WTM, though, so I am not a complete poser!

 

However, we have always read classic, good literature (usually as read alouds), correlated year long history study (SOTW) with literature, used narrations and memorization, and focused on grammar. But, how much I needed to be reading, scribing, organizing, planning, teaching was really, really wearing me out. I always felt that I was accommodating, along with adding in additional "hands-on" things-- mostly games.

 

It is really in the past year that we have deviated from the WTM reccs. when we used Verticy which was really a method to give me a break from the exhaustion, and allow ds to begin to experience more independence. This year, we will try to enter back more to WTM-ish methods, although we will still keep some Verticy that allows independence.

[elise1mds]

I feel like a ding-dong since I don't really know exactly what a classical education is. :lol: I have read the WTM, though, so I am not a complete poser!

 

However, we have always read classic, good literature (usually as read alouds), correlated year long history study (SOTW) with literature, used narrations and memorization, and focused on grammar.

 

I could easily have written this! There are times I don't have a clue, either. We read a lot. My son loves to read and is good at it, so for this year - "second" grade - I'm requesting lots and lots of books from the library for him to read. This week is Mary Poppins; next week is Peter Rabbit. Mostly I'm going through WWE and making sure he's read most everything out of there and adding a few other books in. We go over the books orally because he *HATES* writing. We do the same for history narrations. He tells me what the chapters are about and I write it down. He's doing better this year already, and he's starting to understand the idea of topic sentences, which is thrilling me to no end. I'm teaching him to type because he prefers that already even though he doesn't do it well, either... yet. We're trying to cover a lot of grammar, too, but taking our time because he doesn't have the tolerance for much at a time and, again, hates writing. We don't do more than a certain amount of math - or any subject - per day because I want him to absorb it, and he's easily frustrated.

 

I think, classical or no, you just have to do what works for your kid(s). I strongly suspect that if we end up homeschooling longterm that I'll wind up using an online curriculum to hold his attention. It won't be classical, but if it works, that's what matters!

[merry gardens]

I feel like a ding-dong since I don't really know exactly what a classical education is. :lol: I have read the WTM, though, so I am not a complete poser!....

Hey--I'm the original poster, and I could have written that too!:lol:

 

I often read the heading on this forum that says, "If you're doing classical education with a child who has special needs, ask questions and find support here." Then I sometimes ask myself, "Self, should I really be posting here?"

 

I don't know if I'm really doing classical education or not.:001_huh: I try--kinda. I use some of the materials recommended in WTM. But, I'm trying much harder to figure out this whole dyslexia/reading thing.

 

Thanks to everyone who posted and shared what you do in your homes. I'm very interested in all your responses. :bigear: