What would you use for curriculum for a borderline autistic sister?

[LuvingLife]

My sister is almost 14 years old, and she is borderline autistic. She is also very moody, grumpy and extremely difficult to handle. She also has ADD, and can only focus on the things she likes, like movies and things like that. She has difficulty reading, wrting, doing math and all of the basic things that she needs to know. You cannot help her with anything, she gets very mad at you and thinks you are trying to be the better person in heling her. So of course we help her, but she gets into these moods if her work isn't easy. She is probably at a 4th or 5th grade level in her work, and my sister doesn't care.

 

What kind of curriculum do you use for someone like my sister? She really needs things broken down to her level, and all the ps did was let her glide by in school without any trouble.

[MamaSheep]

I am loving how well Math-U-See is working for both my autistic son and my ADHD daughter, and would definitely recommend it for math. They have placement tests on their web site to help figure out where to start, and the books are labeled Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc. rather than by grade level, which is not as demoralizing as having to work from a book that is labeled with a grade way below "normal" for your age. The explanations are clear and incremental and it's easy to tailor the amount of practice to the individual student.

 

And also, to be perfectly honest, medications have been very helpful in evening out mood (in my son) and improving focus (for my daughter). I am absolutely not in a position to hand out medical advice, but if medication is not already in the picture I would suggest that discussing the options with a medical professional might be a good idea. There are some chemical brain differences in autism and ADD, and sometimes people need a little help dealing with them, kind of like people with diabetes need medical assistance in regulating their blood chemistry. It is difficult to be motivated to learn academic subjects when all your energy and focus have to go into just maintaining control and muddling through your day without major catastrophe. I think sometimes we underestimate the effort they are making because we focus so much on the results that are not happening the way we would like.

[jewell]

How about Teaching Textbooks? And things like Word Roots or Editor in Chief software from Critical THinking Press? Then you all wouldn't be "correcting" her or doing much helping (helps available )

 

How about an outside tutor? Or having her tutor someone younger (we learn alot of times by teaching!) Or having her explain it to you?

 

Med may really help,t oo

[LuvingLife]

Thank you all very much for your help, and after the new year she is going to see a doctor to find out exactly what she has. My sister has always been "labeled" (as the phychiatrists and teachers put it) learning disabled. We already know that, but she has never been diagnosed with anything else!!

 

Thank you for your curriculum suggestions and advice of what to do. She really likes to have control of her schoolwork and hopefully this will give her some freedom.

[Ottakee]

I think that if you can swing it a full neuropsych eval and an eval by a psychiatrist experienced with teens with autism, mood issues, etc. would be VERY hepful.

 

After that you will know what you are looking at IQ, LD, etc. as well possible medication, etc.

 

She sounds somewhat like my 15dd who has LDs, a cognitive delay, bipolar, and some autistic tendencies. Meds have made about an 90% difference here---didnt' cure the LDs or cognitive delays but made it so she could learn and now mood wise and attention wise she is MUCH better.

 

I like Christian Light Education and ACE (school of tomorrow) for her--nice clear cut lesson with small steps of progress daily. She would need to take the placement tests and start there.

 

You will also need to see if she will need a college prep course, a more typical course of study or if she is quite a few impairments, maybe a course of study that is more life skills/job training skills type program.

 

What level is she working on now?

[LuvingLife]

I think that if you can swing it a full neuropsych eval and an eval by a psychiatrist experienced with teens with autism, mood issues, etc. would be VERY hepful.

 

After that you will know what you are looking at IQ, LD, etc. as well possible medication, etc.

 

She sounds somewhat like my 15dd who has LDs, a cognitive delay, bipolar, and some autistic tendencies. Meds have made about an 90% difference here---didnt' cure the LDs or cognitive delays but made it so she could learn and now mood wise and attention wise she is MUCH better.

 

I like Christian Light Education and ACE (school of tomorrow) for her--nice clear cut lesson with small steps of progress daily. She would need to take the placement tests and start there.

 

You will also need to see if she will need a college prep course, a more typical course of study or if she is quite a few impairments, maybe a course of study that is more life skills/job training skills type program.

 

What level is she working on now?

 

Thank you and she is working on level 5 right now. She is really behind but that is the pace she learns at. In ps they had her working at a level 1 pace!! She could do much better but they never pushed her to do it.

 

Thank you!