Parents of an autistic child will have to seriously consider if public education or homeschooling will be the best option for their child. With the right treatment and depending on the severity of autism, many children function perfectly well in a public school. Even though this is possible, most autistic people do have serious communication and socializing problems.
The Centre for Disease control reports that autism seems to be on the rise. For many years, only 5 in 10 000 children were diagnosed with autism but now it can be as much as 1 in 150.
Parents know and understand their own children the best and will therefore be the only ones that will really know if their child will be able to be happy and successful in a public institution.
Public schools will have the properly trained staff to correctly teach autistic children but because behavioral problems can be severe the choice has to be considered very carefully. An autistic child might regress in a situation where the other learners also have emotional and socializing problems.
Children can be very cruel which can result in an autistic child being bullied or treated badly. Autistic children are also very sensitive to sound and schools are not quiet places.
Most parent that choose to homeschool children with special needs, report that their children were very unhappy in public schools, which led to regression in behavioral improvements already been made.
Homeschooling parents find the child responds much better in a 1:1 teaching situation. At home they can control the child’s routine and diet, which is very important for an autistic child, much better than public schools can.
The one very definite advantage of homeschooling is that parents can work on a trial and error basis. If a certain method or strategy doesn’t work, it can easily be changed or adapted. In public schools this is impossible and children will have to conform to how it is done at school.
From all the reports studied it is very clear that autistic children thrive in homeschooling but that it is a challenge for the parent involved. It will depend on each individual family’s situation if it will be the best option.
