Posted: 02/Nov/2009 at 12:18pm | IP Logged

Hi Everyone.

 I am new to the homeschooling community.  My son went to preschool last year and decided this year it was God's calling for me to homeschool him.  He is very intelligent.  He learns new things really well and picks stuff up quickly.  His weakness is when he is in large groups of people he melts down.  Therefore we actually are thinking he has Aspergers and not Autism.  We live in the state of North Carolina and was wondering if anyone out there has any advice of good websites to use for learning with him and advice on how they homeschool their kindergartner.  We are using LIFEPAC christian based curriculum with him. Any advice, information ANYTHING would be so helpful for us because I am new to this and do not know anyone else who homeschools! Thanks! Lauren

Posted: 05/Nov/2009 at 4:08pm | IP Logged

I am probably not much help, but hoping to be in your shoes next year.  My son is 3 and has autism and I am working towards being able to close my daycare and devote my time to only my kids. 

I do wonder why you would think aspergers though, as those with aspergers usually do desire to have friends and fit in, but have difficulty doing so.  Those with autism usually dislike crowds and large groups.

Do you do any ABA with him?  We have been doing this since last February on our own and the state started in March, and the school system took over in June... but both programs provide only minimal ABA. 

I would love to keep in touch since we are both in similar boats!

Good luck!!!

Posted: 12/Nov/2009 at 12:04pm | IP Logged

Oh yes, that does sound more like Aspergers.  A family in my autism support group has one of each (and one NT), and their kids are college age so they have kind of BTDT.  They were comparing Aspergers and Autism a few weeks ago.

ABA has really helped Logan as well.  He isn't progressing through the trials very quickly (he was doing great but regressed when he transitioned from home therapy to their early intervention preschool where he gets significantly less and only 20 minutes at a time), but his overall receptive language is increasing. 

Posted: 02/Mar/2010 at 2:28pm | IP Logged

Hey,Well we personally use Time4learning and both my kids dd 8 & ds 3 love it......

I have a neice who has learning disabiltys and they think she may be Autistic...She struggled for yrs in PS but last year they finally pulled her out and she has been doing T4L since..from what i hear she is doing good with it ;)

HTH :)

Posted: 13/Mar/2010 at 12:58pm | IP Logged

Asperger's IS an autistic spectrum disorder.  Anyone who has been given the asperger's label is autistic.  It's just a matter of where the person falls on the autistic spectrum.  Asperger's is typically (but not always) what is known as "high functioning autism." 

That distinction is important, especially as you research your options.

It doesn't sound like you have a diagnosis yet?  If not, you need one.  Once you get a diagnosis, you'll have a wealth of resources available to you via organizations like Autism.org and APSFA.org.

You may want to read this article for early signs and symptoms of asperger's / autism.

Narrowing down exactly what your child's issues are will go a long way toward helping you organize your homeschool focus.  Then, for getting organized, this is a simple, straight forward article.