Special Needs Resources

There are countless resources available for the homeschooling parent of special needs children. For years, most of us had to develop our own materials since there wasn't much specific to homeschoolers. Many of us gleaned ideas from general special needs resources and just ignored the frequent references to school. Fortunately, more resources are now available for homeschoolers and educating your own special needs child is no longer such a "where-do-I-start?" and "what-do-I-do?" proposition. Although, keep in mind that because a specific resource works for one ADHD or AS child doesn't necessarily mean that it will work for your ADHD or AS child.

Also included on this page are resources that are general homeschooling special needs (not broken into specific disorders) and those that are not specific to homeschooling, but are for the general population of special needs children, or parenting. While it would virtually be impossible to cite every resource, I try to list those that are respectful of children and seek to empower families. I suppose I could cite the books and resources that I personally feel are damaging, but let's keep this on a positive level (and keep me out of court!).

This is going to be a constantly evolving webpage as I will add new resources as I learn about them. Yes! please feel free to email me with your ideas for possible inclusion (although I cannot make any promises).

Books

Homeschooling the Child with ADD or Other Special Needs: Your Complete Guide to Successfully Homeschooling the Child with Learning Differences by Lenore Colacion Hayes, Prima Publishing, March 2002.
This book is about more than ADD (the publisher thought this would sell books) and includes issues pertinent to anyone interested in homeschooling a square peg child. Read the introduction.

Christian-Based Homeschooling

Homeschooling The Challenging Child: A Practical Guide by Christine M. Field.
Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005.

Homeschooling Children with Special Needs by Sharon Hensley. 1995.

Choosing and Using Curriculum for Your Special Child by Joyce Herzog. Greenleaf Press, 1996.

Learning in Spite of Labels by Joyce Herzog. Greenleaf Press, 1994.

Better Late Than Early: A New Approach to Your Child's Education by Raymond S. Moore Ph.D. and Dorothy Moore. Reader's Digest Press, 1982.

Parenting Books
of Special Interest
to Parents of Special Needs Kids

Yoga for the Special Child by Sonia Sumar (1996). Special Yoga Publications, Rt. 1, Box 1559, Buckingham, VA 23921.

The Child with Special Needs: Encouraging Intellectual and Emotional Growth by Stanley Greenspan, M.D. Perseus Press, 1998.

The Tao of Teaching by Greta Nagel. Donald I. Fine, Inc., 1994.

The Tao of Parenting: The Ageless Wisdom of Taoism and the Art of Raising Children by Greta Nagel. Penquin Books, 1998.

Seven Times Smarter: 50 Activities, Games, and Projects to Develop the Seven Intelligences of Your Child by Laurel Schmidt. Three Rivers Press, 2001.

IEP Assistance

Rhonda Robinson's Recipe for a Homeschooled IEP
From the Nathhan website, suggestions for IEP goals for those who may want to develop such a program, even if not using school services.

Family Village Schools - University of Wisconsin at Madison.
This global community provides a variety of disability-related resources.  Of note - their links to a variety of online samples of goals and objectives for IEP and 504 accommodations. Not a homeschooling related resource, but helpful nonetheless!

Sample IEP Goals from LearningAbled Kids

Copying
Organization
Reading
Spelling
Written Expression

Articles

Bringing Your Child Home
by Lenore Colacion Hayes, HSC's Chaos to Confidence, 2003

Our Thought-Provoking Ideas about Socialization by Tammy Glaser, Weird Kids, 1999

Websites

HSC's Special Challenges Section
Informational site from the nonprofit state organization, HomeSchool Association of CA. The site includes helpful articles and resources.

A to Z's Home's Cool Site - Special Needs Section

Sections include: Able, but challenged, autism, blindness, deafness,dyslexia, dyspraxia, learning disabilities & legal issues & listing of vendors.

About.com Homeschooling Site - Special Needs Section
Covering such areas as: ADD, gifted, special challenges, able but challenged, autism, blindness, deafness, legal issues and screening.

Homeschooling Kids with Disabilities Information
Lots of links to a variety of resources on homeschooling special needs.

Homeschooling Children with Disabilities
Webring of sites by homeschooling families with special kids.

National Challenged Homeschoolers Associated Network  (NATHHAN)
National organization for those homeschooling special needs children. Christian perspective.

  Email Lists

Homeschooling Special Needs Kidz
This is a support group for those who live mainly in the USA who are homeschooling a "special needs" child, ages preschool to 19. Whether your child has ADHD, a learning disability (LD), dyslexia, emotional or neurological disorder, bipolar,tourette syndrome,deafness,autism,anxiety disorder, oppositonal defiance disorder, blindness,any type of emotional or physical handicap,etc, then this group is for you. This is a primarily Christian and Jewish group so arguments of any kind or harrassment will not be permitted. Let's keep the focus on what is best for the kids.

Homeschool Plus
"This list is all about Home-Educating. We welcome Homeschoolers, Unschoolers, Deschoolers, whatever the chosen tag may be. Many of our children are DifferentlyAbled ("special needs" -- some diagnoses include: TS, OCD, AD/HD, Bipolar, ODD, various LDs, etc.). We are here to support and encourage one another as we share our experiences and ideas, our struggles and successes. We discuss many aspects of our lives here as we grow as friends and family. " -yahoogroups description

HomeschoolingExtraordinaryKids · Thinking Outside the Box
Email forum for parents who are homeschooling children who possess both giftedness and learning disabilities. List also includes a growing database filled with weblinks for curriculum, enrichment, summer camps, local support groups, virtual field trips and international sites.

Charlotte Mason for Special Kids
An email list for those using Charlotte Mason homeschooling methods for special needs children. It is for the sharing of information related to adapting CM for special needs but also for sharing the unique challenges and joys of everyday life with our kids, for support, encouragement and prayer.

Special Needs Homeschool
Our focus is homeschooling families with at least one special needs child. Most of our members have medically fragile children dealing challenges in speech, motor development and learning disabilities. We homeschool full time or part of the time. Topics include: curricula, speech, feeding issues, OT, PT, "other" sibling survival strategies, staying "sane"(whatever that is??) and a host of other issues.

Homeschooling Kids With Disabilities
(this)... email list is a specialized list focused on homeschooling children with special educational needs. The list is unmoderated but strongly encouraged to remain on-topic. Parents/grandparents/guardians who are homeschooling children with special educational needs, as well as several professionals in the disabilities field, actively participate on the list by sharing information, offering encouragement and support (or asking for it!) to those of us have a hard time (or who want to share a great success!) If you're looking for more than just another generalized homeschooling list, are interested in or are actually homeschooling a child with special needs, please sign on and join us. Due to recent problems, new members need to be approved.

Leaping from the Box
Lots of Lists! An exhaustive and descriptive listing of homeschooling email lists, including many for special needs families.