In this issue of Stepping Stones, I will be discussing fall preparation for school and homeschool.

Also, many of you want to know more about what I personally do for autism in my family. So, I have included a summary of our plans with curriculum, therapies and treatments, too!

Most of you are probably making plans for your child to attend traditional school. If so, dust off and review your IEP so that you know the specific plans for your child by your school district. Let your child know about what will be the same and what will be different. Our kids often like to plan ahead and to know what to expect!

Also, try to take your child on a tour of the school and the new classroom, and arrange to meet the new teacher before school starts. Our kids usually do so much better if they are well-prepared in advanced!

Some of you may be homeschooling this year. It may even be your first year! Congratulations!

I am finding that the rate of special needs kids that are homeschooling seems to be increasing! I believe that parents of children with autism are discovering that they can indeed provide their child an even more individualized education plan right at home. After all, you are the best expert for your child.

Each state has its own laws and requirements about homeschooling. Make sure that you have submitted the appropriate notification paperwork. And, hopefully, you have already picked out your curriculum. If not, it is not too late! And it is easy! You can find out more about homeschooling here.

Whether your child will be attending public school or homeschool, you still need to have your own goals for autism therapy and autism treatment. I find it best to write these goals out and to review them periodically.

For my son with AS and my daughter with PDD-NOS, we will be using many therapies and treatments at home.

I am adapting portions of several “official” therapies, such as art therapy, dance therapy, music therapy, occupational therapy, weighted products, Wilbarger brushing technique, floortime (DIR), play therapy, pet therapy, therapeutic horseback riding, and Brain Gym. I will explore the Irlen Method and vision therapy with my children this year, too.

We will also continue their whole food supplement, antioxidant supplement, Omega 3 fish oil, detoxification clay foot baths, glutathione therapy, glyconutrient therapy, and aromatherapy.

The homeschooling curriculum will consist of a lot of logic in order to further aid brain development. My fourth grade daughter is using the Building Thinking Skills program from the Critical Thinking Company. My ninth grade son will be taking formal introductory logic, Latin and computer programming.

Both children have considerable dysgraphia which has improved considerably with Handwriting Without Tears. We worked on printing last year and will work on cursive this year. My son has been taking piano lessons and my daughter wants to take guitar lessons. Both of these musical instruments involve substantial fine motor control which will also help their dysgraphia.

This year I have been able to more fully discern their primary learning styles. My son is a visual learner and my daughter is a kinesthetic learner. Since I am a visual learner also, I had no problem designing curriculum for my son. However, my daughter has posed more of a problem! I have been gradually figuring out more hands-on learning opportunities for her.

For example, she will be learning US geography with puzzles and map work. I taught her basic horse anatomy with paper mache. She learned time tables while jumping on the trampoline. We will be making an Ohio notebook and a horse unit study notebook this year with lots of project pages. She is also using The Learnables computer program for Spanish which combines visual, auditory, but especially kinesthetic learning.

The main point of this newsletter is to encourage you to find the appropriate learning materials, therapies and treatments for your own child so that you can train your child in the way that he should go according to Proverbs 22:6.

What is your favorite autism therapy and autism treatment? If you homeschool, what curriculum do you use? I would love to hear from you!

I hope that you found this information useful. Feel free to pass this newsletter along to others in its entirety so that it can help others, too.

Also, make sure to check out Autism in the Christian Home website and Autism Blog.

Take care,