Anyone using HOD with autistic children?

[Mom4autism]

Hello,

First of all, let me tell you about myself. My husband and I are avid Christians who love the Lord and long to have our children in a "Christ-centered" environment. However, our 2'nd child was diagnosed with autism when she was 3 and since then has been thrown into a very confusing public school system. Not long after, our 3'rd child was also diagnosed. Being homeschooled my whole life - public school literally terrifies me. We've already been in 2 years, and I'm already tired of all the IEP meetings and not really knowing what is going on with my dd. Thankfully, my husband made the decision that we will be keeping all of our children home this year. I am nervous, and trying to find a good fit for all of my kids........If anyone has successfully used this program for an autistic child could you please write me back?

Also, I think I'm going to use Bigger for my 8 year old daughter.......but I was wondering if there is alot of library running to do? Not that I'm against going to the library, but our library is very small and taking all 4 children at this stage in my life is overwhelming........I really want to implement CM style as we were raised on Abeka and I don't think it will fit my children...

Any responses would be helpful!! Thank you so much and I'm so excited to have found HOD!

In Christ,
Kayla

[krismoose]

Hi and welcome!
I haven't personally used the programs with kids with autism, but I think there are a couple of moms on here that have...HOD is *very* flexible in how you can use it within your family, so I think as long as you find the right levels for your dc, it could work. I'm a speeech-language therapist by training and I worked with many autistic kids in ps before I had my dc, and I am very impressed by the great support for language development that is built into Little Hands, Little Hearts and Beyond LH. Coupled with how Christ permeates the lessons, we have tremendously enjoyed the 2 guides we've used so far. Have you looked at the placement chart for your 2nd (and 3rd?) dd? http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php Let us know what you think about it

[Mom4autism]

Thank you Kristen for your reply! I have looked at ALL the programs, and I would really love to try LHFHG out. I want to combine my two middle children w/ special needs, but Khloe(who is 6) is leaps and bounds above Karaline (4) when it comes to knowing her letters and sounds. Karaline is kinda struggling in that area, but Khloe is sooooo ready to begin phonics instruction. Do you think it would implement enough pre-learning for Karaline that I could use the same program for both??? Does that make sense?
Also, do you have to make library runs for the smaller programs as well as the larger? I probably would end up buying all the books just to have them.............

[krismoose]

Library runs aren't needed for LHTH or LHFHG. The key books for the programs weren't at our library anyhow...There's an appendix in LHFHG with supplemental readings that go along with the weekly topics, but it's purely supplemental, we read a few here and there as interest (and availability) led us.

Re: placement, how well does your 6yo dd listen to stories without pictures? And how is her comprehension for the concept of history, things that happened long ago? Those skills would be key in deciding if you wanted to start LHFHG (as written or more slowly) and ease into the listening skills. The first half covers the scope of the Bible, so there are pictures in the story Bible and the stories would be more familiar, giving more time to grow before getting to the "rest of history" (sounds funny to write it that way ) The storytime read-alouds by Thornton Burgess are also nicely sequenced to increase listening skills without picture supports, but of course you can add coloring pages or whatever you need to make it more concrete if needed. My 3yo dd (was 2 whe we started) tagged along for most of LHFHG, listening to the readings and participating in the activities, bible memory verses and history rhymes. She played with special toys when it was time for phonics, math & handwriting with ds. We had a great time! I'll probably repeat it for her in a couple of years, but for now I'm going through LHTH with her very slowly - Bible story, song and one activity per day, maybe 10-15 min tops. She loves it, and it gives us something simple and fun to do together before big brother does his "school". I bet you'd have a great time doing LHFHG all together. Or, if LHFHG looks to be too much for them at this time, you could do LHTH and add phonics, math and appropriate fine motor activities for the 6yo, and do LHFHG next year.

[Mom4autism]

Re: placement, how well does your 6yo dd listen to stories without pictures? And how is her comprehension for the concept of history, things that happened long ago? Those skills would be key in deciding if you wanted to start LHFHG (as written or more slowly) and ease into the listening skills.

Actually, my 6 year olds reading and story comprehension are her weakest area. But she knows numbers and letters like the back of her hand. My 4 year old, however, is a little more able to comprehend. It's funny b/c their strengths are both in the opposite of the other......I think you're right, I will probably use LHTH and add my own stuff for my 6 year old. I am so excited about all of this, and I've prayed so hard that God would lead me where He wants me.......I have complete peace about HOD, I just want to make sure I've gotten the right one for each child Thank you so much for your help!!

God bless you!!
Kayla
dd 8
dd 6 (autism)
dd 4 (autism)
dd 18 mos. (talking - yay!)

[spidermansmum]

Hi
I have a 7 year old DS- who has been diagnosed with an Autistic Spectrum Condition-I think he falls in the aspergers side of the spectrum.
We homeschooled until last october when DH felt that DS would benefit from PS.It was a disaster and we pulled him this June to continue to HS him.I think HS kids with any kind of special needs has real advantages.My son has become so incredibly chilled since we returned to homeschooling him.
We used LHFHG when Nathan was 6-7.We are currently using Beyond and LHTH with my 3year old.
I think that grouping some of your children together is an excellent idea.I *chose* to re do Singapore 1a/b this year with my 7 yr old-because he lost so much confidence whilst at PS.I really felt that waht he needed above anything else was to feel successful and that he was capable.Im not sure if we will do the entire year with Singapore 1a/b or whether after a season we can place him in singapore 2.But Iam so thrilled when he looks at me and says-That was easy-I can do that.
Each child with ASC is different but Iknow how much my DS needs a routine-if this is so for your DC- I would spend some time establishing a new routine -I have used a visual timetable in the past-but now DS can cope with covering each 'square' in the curriculum guide with apost it note. Visual timer helps my DS to focus his attention .
We love HOD
I hope this helps some

[spidermansmum]

ohh and here is alink to my blog
http://stanleysmagicgarden.blogspot.com/
You can see there a bit about what HOD looked like in our home