Special Ed

How does your daughter feel about school? Does she like going or not? That question could always play into a parent’s decision to homeschool. And what is it that makes you feel the school isn’t helping? Are her grades low?

Visual and auditory processing issues could show improvement as your daughter grows but it also deserves to be considered that there is no quick fix for those issues and from that alone it may well seem that little is being done for her.

If you can do a search on the web under homeschooling, you might find a homeschooling organization in your community. If you would decide to seriously consider homeschooling, it might be possible to find another homeschooling family who would be happy to include your daughter if you feel that you could not do it alone.

Another option to consider is that you might contact the county services and other resource options for assistance to the visually impaired. I would think, or at least wonder as to why your daughter might be limited to her education options because of your visual disability (for lack of a better word). I am pretty certain there are allowances and tollerances within the guidelines to assist and work with parents who have disabilities like yours.

One thing for certain, if you do not understand what is going on with your daughter’s program, your district has obligations to make certain it is explained to you so you understand. If they are cooperative, just explain that you wish to have a meeting so they can clarify her program and what is going on. You may want to contact any of the learning disability agencies in your area like LDA to see if they can assist and provide some kind of advocacy for you due to circumstances… They may also be able to assist you in finding out what other types of programs could/should be made available for your child.

Do your best to document everything, and have the district correspond in written documentation as well. If they are not cooperative or abusive in any manner, I’m quite certain that a strong letter of complaint to the Office of Civil Rights would correct things, or at least get them going in the right direction. I am not implying that they are bad, but in case you run into conflict, don’t panic, there’s bound to be help out there for you.

Good luck.

Andy

Your medical insurance might cover a developmental vision exam and a CAPD evaluation. You can find developmental optometrists at http://www.covd.org and CAPD audiologists at http://pages.cthome.net/cbristol/

The vision and CAPD evaluations should result in specific recommendations for therapies likely to help. You could then look for ways to provide these therapies to your daughter both inside and outside of school.

At least in some states, you may be able to meet the legal requirements for homeschooling even if you are blind. Admittedly it wouldn’t be easy, and you would need some help. However, a lot of homeschooling can be done orally, and the use of video and audio tapes is common. You might be able to hook up with another homeschooling family interested in a service project. A good first step would be to call one or more of your state’s homeschooling organizations.

One of the best things to do for children is expose them to lots of good oral literature. Since you have access to tapes for the blind, this is something you can easily provide at home. This kind of stimulation can go far to develop a child’s language capabilities.

Mary

You are in an interesting situation. The big question is why you want to homeschool. I have considered homeschooling,not because I felt prepared to homeschool,but because I was desperate to help my children. If this is the reason ,then legally the school has obligations to you. You and your daughter have rights. I could tell you what they are,but if you REALLY want to homeschool,and what your question is really, are there any resources for a disabled parent.? I don’t know. You should contact blind services in your county, and what about Voc. Rehab? I would think if you were going to teach your child at home,”be the teacher”,this would possibly be considered a career, and with that, they might provide help? You obviously have many aids,via internet,to do this. You could do it like anyone else,if you had adaptive support. Can you go online and search the net alone? Do you have books,or can you get books on tape? Desire is the biggest step. BUT, If you want to try and get the school to improve on their services,let me know :-)