How Homeschoolers Approach Teaching Children with Learning Disabilities

Parents of homeschoolers with learning disabilities and parents of public school children with learning disabilities obviously have a lot in common. Whether you decide to homeschool or utilize the services of the local public school, you definitely have a lot on your hands. With that said, I believe that homeschoolers have distinct advantage when dealing with their learning disabled children that public school parents can benefit from.

Homeschoolers are more likely to pick up on learning disabilities earlier because they are with the child more and are seeing struggles not only in at home activities, but also in learning activities.

According to Learningrx.com, "statistically, it has been shown that when parents decide to home school their child with a learning disability, the child's learning ability is excelled more than in a school setting."

Parents are more likely to get an impartial assessment as the same people who suspect the child has a learning disability, is not testing the child. They have no investment in moving the child to a special class.

Instead of relying on the school's experts to do what is best for the child, a homeschooling parent is more likely to get training so they are more informed about their child's specific issue. This allows them to have a greater level of understanding of their child and equips them to better advocate for them instead of relying on another person's expertise. Because of this, remedial action is not just a part of the child's education when they homeschool, but it can be built into the child's education, due to the ability to choose a specialized curriculum, or to tailor a curriculum to a child's needs.

Homeschooling parents are also able to focus on the child's abilities and areas of gifteness that often exist in a child with learning disabilities. Because they have the time and freedome to truly excel at something, they are more confident and happy and this helps them to better overcome their learning disabilities. According to Giftedchildren.org, true giftedness often goes undiagnosed in children who have been labeled to have a learning disability. According to the The National Association for Gifted Children , "school policies concerning identification and entitlement to specialized educational services can contribute to the under identification and inappropriate programming for (learning disabled /gifted) youngsters."

Finally, homeschoolers can allow their children to learn without labels that may prevent mainstreaming in highschool and getting into college. Learning disabled children who are homeschooled are not stuck in an educational track that may not include college prep courses.

This does not mean that all learning disabled children should be homeschooled. This is just not possible in all cases. However, parents of disabled children should do things a homeschooling parent would do like get an impartial assessment and get training and education on their child's disability. This will allow them more imput when dealing with schools and adminstrators and also help them make educational choices that will shape their child's entire life.