heartofdakota.com

At the beginning of January, we made a hard change for our son who has aspergers. We dropped HOD for him and he is now at a small Christian school that is very structured, predictable, and has lots of rewards and incentives. He seems to be thriving in that environment. I feel we gave HOD an honest try for him, and it was hard for me to stop teaching him. ...wanted him to get all that HOD has to offer.

However, we kept our other ds who is eight in Bigger and now that he doesn't go through his brother's meltdowns on every other subject, he is doing real well. I feel like I am totally starting HOD over again and really seeing the beauty of it. Wow! So good for active learners. My second son is very active, maybe even borderline ADHD, but HOD is such a good fit for him. All the various activities, the reading, the notebook pages, etc. He truly is learning and I am finding a new gratefulness for HOD.... Our other son is doing well in the school setting as well.... We're trying some natural supplements with him too just to see how he progresses...but wanted to express how thankful I am for HOD. God is faithful....even in the midst of hard times and when things don't turn out how we might hope.

I'm glad you are enjoying Bigger Hearts with your 8 yo ds, and I am sure you've sought the Lord's leading in the decision to place your other ds in a Christian school. God IS faithful, you are so right, and it is good to hear you finding the joy in focusing on homeschooling your 8 yo now. Who knows, this may be a stage for your ds with asperger's - he may be home again with you at some point to be homeschooled again - maybe as the bumps even out, as you were saying they already are. Only God knows the answer to that. May God continue to make known the path He desires we take as parents, as each of our life stories will be unique to His personal plan for us and our dc. God bless!

In Christ,
Julie

I have a 9yr old with ASD .Whilst I try really hard not to compare my boys,LHFHG is so much easier with my 5 yr old ,than it was with his brother 4 years ago.
I watch with amazement as he learns the song for the week[My 9 yr old doesn't sing at all,not even in church],
and my 5 yr old writes ..for fun somedays

This is a little off topic OT but the movie Temple Grandin is about a women who has ASD. It shows how she struggles with life but has used her gifts to be a successful productive designer of cattle shutes. Getting support with ASD at Christian School will help smooth out the bumpy road. The time away may just what you need to recharge your joy battery to continue the course. I have a dd with educational not medical autism and she attended ps preschool for 2 years and just having her away for a few hours allowed me to catch up with schooling other dc. I also received resources that helped me figure out a few things but still have a ways to go on my learning curve. HOD has really been a nice fit as I do a LHTH/LHFHG combo for K this year.
I spent 13 years as an OTR working with adults with autism but still have many questions about this journey but I like having THE MANUAL/BIBLE. Praying for you and your family as you travel this road that the Lord has prepared for you.
Tammy

Temple Grandin was an excellent film.

Thank you ladies for your encouragement! We took the step of putting him in school not knowing for sure where the $ was going to come from. So far both months - the extra money has been there....to the exact dollar in fact this last month. That confirms for me that he's in the right place for now. I personally have struggled with being organized all my life - and he really needs set structure and schedule to do well. Am asking the Lord's enabling for me in that regard and trying to make some changes here at home for him too. Different ways in handling sibling spats, setting up very clear rules and consequences, and we're trying some extra B6, magnesium, and omega 3's for him too. (Neurologist had put us on some medication - we tried that for 5 days and it was heart wrenching to see my son turn into somebody else. Yes, he was calm, but there was no joy in his step or on his face. He begged us not to take the meds because they hurt his stomach, and made him so sleepy during the day, but at night time he had nightmares and couldn't sleep well...and since we were leaning that way anyway, we took him off)

My youngest child has major sensory issues as well and also may be on the autistic spectrum. (she's 5 now) She's seeing an occupational therapist once a week now. Part of the problem has been she needs so much of my time as well - so him going to school has truly been a blessing in many ways. I'm able to focus on my middle child's schooling, and then work with her as well without being emotionally and physically drained from dealing with my oldest. (I had been going through LHTH with my dd but then stopped for a few months as problems with our oldest seemed to escalate....so need to start her up on that again as she absolutely loves it) We're still struggling to know what's best for her next year for kindergarten....

We never had heard of Temple Grandin until a few months ago, and yes we saw the movie...helped us understand a little more how our little guy thinks. Also just now we are going through a book on aspergers by Tony Attwood. As parents, we have spent many tears and prayers over our oldest. Before he goes to bed now, I "squish" him with a body ball....almost my entire weight (and I'm not a small woman) on the ball on his body while he's laying down - and he absolutely calms down from his bouncy, flying off the wall, spinning around self. The first time I did it, he said, "that feels SO good, Mom." and now he begs for it every night. We are also in the process of trying to get him a weighted vest or belt (for self calming during the day) as he truly does seem to settle down with that extra sensory imput.

Anyway, again thank you for your input. It's good to know one is not alone...and at times as parents we have to make gut-wrenching decisions, but have to make them trying by the Lord's grace to do what is best for each of our children. At these times we especially need the Lord's strength and encouragment and He has done that through each of you....thank you!

I found Tony Attwood's book helpful.Some other resources I found helpful [you may already have these-but just thought it was worth a mention]
Social Stories -carol Gray [Younger kids]
Comic Strip Conversations [ Older kids ]