Sometimes children who have been diagnosed with a learning disability are bright or talented, but they may not do well in a formal school setting. That's why parents of children with learning disabilities often choose homeschooling for their kids over sending them to a public school. If you're willing to make the commitment, there are several programs you can choose from that will target the special needs of your child, including ADD, ADHD, Asperger's syndrome and dyslexia.
Types
If you want a customized program for your learning disabled child, there are several options. The National Association of Child Development has programs that include personal analysis, tailoring the teachings to your child's disability, and one-on-one support to help you meet your state's requirement for homeschooling (see Resources). The Essential Learning Institute (see Resources) tests your child's learning style, and offers a homeschool curriculum, combined with a computer-based therapy kit.
You could also choose a program designed for all types of students, and tailor the curriculum to your child's best method of learning. You can get a standard text-based K-12 homeschool curriculum from your local school district, or at K12.com. If you prefer online courses, GlobalStudentNetwork.com offers programs for grades 2 to 12, or Time4Learning.com offers programs for elementary grades. For a mixture of online learning and teacher support, KeyStoneHighSchool.com has programs for high school students.
Features
General-purpose homeschooling programs cover the subjects taught at the corresponding grade level in your home state. Customized programs based on your child's learning abilities focus on multisensory lessons that are designed to promote cognitive function or strengthen weak areas of written and spoken learning skills. They also offer human support, so you can talk to people about any challenges that you're having with the program or teaching experience.
Benefits
Chances are, the teachers at your local public school do not have special training teaching children with learning disabilities, and your child will get lost in the crowd, labeled as "slow," or otherwise have his self-esteem negatively impacted. But you've been teaching your own child for his whole life, and are dedicated to seeing him succeed. At home, you can give your child one-on-one attention, with a fun and appealing program designed to teach him best, on the schedule that best suits you both.
Considerations
Consider your child's age; some parents of learning disabled children wait until their child is older to begin homeschooling, when they've already established social skills and patterns of optimal learning. This is a good option if your child's school district has teachers that are qualified to work with small children that have learning disabilities, but not older kids.
Some children feel removed from their peers by being homeschooled, so check if a local school will allow your child to participate in extracurricular activities. If you need support yourself, and it doesn't come with the program you've selected, look into local support groups, or try the online Yahoo Groups one (see Resources). There may even be other parents homeschooling learning disabled children with whom you can pool resources and teaching time.
Warning
Homeschooling your child is a daily commitment, and if both you and your spouse work full time, you might find that you don't have time to give it the focus it deserves. With a learning disabled child, it may be even more difficult, because he has special needs that can make him challenging to teach, and he may have a tendency to be uncooperative if he doesn't want to do something. Customized programs for your learning disabled child, and the associated teaching materials, can also prove to be quite expensive, while tailoring a standard curriculum to your child can be frustrating and time-consuming.
