For a variety of reasons (some preference based, some due to circumstances) many parents today are choosing to homeschool their ASD child.

Thanks to technology, if you are a parent considering taking the often scary step into not just being Mom or Dad, but also Teacher, then there are websites, apps, and all sorts of tools that can help you. Which is great.

So is homeschooling all great, ALL the time? Hmmmm.....not really.
Just like any educator, every day will not be sunshine and roses. However there's a huge difference between an occasional rough day, and ending each homeschooling lesson sobbing at your kitchen table. Let's avoid that 2nd scenario, when at all possible.

Many of my clients are homeschooled by one or both parents, so I get an upfront view of the difficulties these parents have when it comes to teaching their own children.

This post isn't about answering the question "to homeschool, or not to homeschool", as that's a decision parents should make. But, I do hope to give some helpful tips for making the homeschool process a bit easier and less frustrating.

Moving from Amateur to Master

“Adapt” is now your favorite word	If you have spent any amount of time inside a Special Education classroom, or speaking with a Special Education teacher, then you should know that Adaptation is the name of the game. Most purchasable curriculum does allow for  customization (some more than others), but if your child is not progressing well with the curriculum/can't keep up, or isn't understanding the material, the beauty of homeschooling is that you can adapt the material to fit the child. I know some parents who don't even teach certain skills/certain subjects because in the grand scheme of things it just isn't functional for their child. When I say "adapt", I mean the materials, the tests/quizzes, the textbooks, the lesson plans, EVERYTHING! What you are teaching should be functional for your child, and presented in a manner they find interesting, and clear to understand. If it isn't, then you have some adapting to do.
Reinforcement is key	Life is about reinforcement. The quicker you accept that, the easier teaching will become. Using a combination of visual/auditory supports, and tangible rewards, embed frequent, powerful, doses of reinforcement into teaching. Ideally, you want your child to be a willing and compliant learner who enjoys learning, right? Well, the way to get there is by breaking tasks down (see the previous point) and wrapping up demands in a thick layer of reinforcement.
Knowledge is your strongest weapon	Knowledge of subjects? Nope. I mean knowledge of your child. If you have a teaching background that's great, but many parents who choose to homeschool do not. But you definitely do have knowledge of your child :-) Use what you know about your child (temperament, motivation, personality, etc.) to design instruction. I know of a family where the mom created lesson plans focused around the movie "Zootopia", as that was a special interest for her daughter. So they used "Zootopia" to learn about history...math...science....etc. Use what you know about your own child to your advantage.
“Prompting” & “Teaching” are not synonymous	See my Prompting post if you are unfamiliar with this word. Here is a common error I see many parents make when homeschooling: child responds incorrectly, parent delivers prompt, child responds incorrectly, parent delivers prompt...repeat 500 times. The problem with confusing a prompt with teaching, is "What is the child learning"?? A prompt is always intended to be lessened, or fully removed, so we can reach independence. If you stop prompting your child, and they suddenly have no idea what to do, then you have been over- prompting. Which will slow down the rate of acquisition (it will take longer for the child to learn).
Masters seek help when they need it!	The most important tip is not to try and do everything on your own. Educators working for school systems know when to reach out for assistance, and so should educators working around their kitchen table. If your child has significant behavior issues, attention problems, or their academic performance is far below their age (a 7 year old working on Kindergarten level assignments) then you need some professional assistance to design intervention. Reach out to an educator, the support available through the homeschooling curriculum/website, or a qualified BCBA so they can help you learn the best ways to teach your child.

*Resources:

If you aren't already familiar with TPT (Teachers Pay Teachers) it's an awesome site full of resources made by and for educators

"The Value of Homeschooling"

"Homeschooling Your Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder"

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Tameika Meadows, BCBA, Blog Author

*Recommended Reading: Therapy Intensity/How Much Therapy


Behavior analytic research as well as best practices for ABA treatment recommend robust/intensive treatment for the most significant results. Typically, "focused" treatment would require at least 15 hours a week of therapy, while more "comprehensive" treatment would require at least double that. 

There are many reasons why therapy hours could be low. Maybe the funding source only approved half of the service authorization (e.g. BCBA asked for 30 hours per week, the insurance company approved 12). Or sometimes the family isn't available for therapy very often, or the child has multiple other therapies and a full day at school.

Regardless of the reason, if treatment hours will be low does that mean its pointless to pursue ABA therapy at all?

No. It does not.

BUT, it does mean that the goals selected for treatment and the modality of treatment need to be super, super realistic and practical.

It's hard to know in advance how long it will take a client to progress through goals, or to reach mastery with a specific skill, but for the most part complex or multifaceted goals are going to take lots of repetition and time. So during intake, when I meet a family and they are discussing goals like toileting, language acquisition, severe problem behaviors, school refusal, etc., I explain very clearly that these goals will need a more comprehensive approach. ABA therapy every Tuesday for 2 hours, is not going to make much of a dent when it comes to comprehensive goals.
However, if the family is requesting help with more focused goals such as shoe tying, eating with utensils, or following instructions, then such comprehensive treatment may not be necessary.

So to parents: If your child has been receiving ABA services for some time with minimal progress, the problem could be that treatment is not intensive enough (doesn't occur at a high enough frequency).


Beyond keeping treatment goals highly realistic/practical, if a client receives minimal therapy hours I also recommend the following:

1. Intensive parent training: If the ABA professional is only going to see the client once a week, what is the best use of that time? Working directly with the child, or the parent? If the professional works with the parent, then outside of session time (and when services end) the parent is now equipped to teach their child, handle challenging behavior, and modify the home environment to help the child be successful. To me, it just makes the most sense to teach the parent as much as you can during the time you have together so they can keep the demand on when you leave.

2. Self-management/Coping skills: If appropriate for the client, teaching using more self-management strategies and less of an instructor-led format is very beneficial when therapy hours are low. I am a huge fan of implementing activity schedules/checklists/task analyses with clients, and showing them that they control their own reinforcement (not me). As long as they are doing what authority figures need them to, they will always be able to access what they want. Also, if behavioral issues are occurring and there is inadequate time for implementation of a comprehensive behavior plan then teaching replacement behaviors, or coping strategies, could be very helpful for the client. For example, when the client escalates and gets upset instead of the adults present reacting to that, the client can be taught how to independently de-escalate. 

3. Self-help/Adaptive functioning: Think of adaptive goals as those daily living skills that are non-optional. You either do them, or someone has to assist you/do them for you. Examples: getting dressed, feeding, toileting, cleaning up after yourself, etc. I have *sadly* had some clients with therapy hours far-r-r below what they actually needed. In situations like that, at a bare minimum I need to know from the family what day- to- day issues are causing the MOST difficulty in the household. Then we start to tackle those, being sure to take small bites of the problem rather than try to squeeze multiple goals into a 1 hour therapy session. For example, if the client fights the morning routine everyday before school and it's causing them to regularly be late to school, that is an awesome place to start. Just helping the parents tackle that one problem with clear strategies, visuals, and support, will make a huge impact in the day- to- day stress levels for the household. 


With low therapy hours, the focus should zoom in and get very practical and answer the question, "What can we do today, to make a difference in this family's life".

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Tameika Meadows, BCBA, Blog Author