How to homeschool your disabled child when they are not merely “special needs”, but profoundly mentally & physically handicapped? What if they are not capable of completing worksheets, written assignments, oral reports, etc.? It can feel overwhelming or impossible, but it is easier than you may think!
I have a daughter who is severely physically and mentally disabled. Her condition is very similar to a child with severe cerebral palsy, but that is not her diagnosis.
She was last evaluated to be at a 3-month age level mentally and is completely non-verbal, confined to a chair, receives her nutrition via a feeding tube, wears diapers, has severe movement disorders, etc. She can express herself through frowning/crying or smiling/laughing, but she has very little control over her body so we really have no way of knowing how much of an “education” she is taking in.
Yet, we have chosen to homeschool from the beginning. Scroll down to read how we homeschool our disabled daughter.
Need Homeschool Encouragement? Read: 9 TRUTHS ABOUT HOMESCHOOLING WITH SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN
So, what do you do when your state requires your child to be “enrolled” in school (home, private, or public) at age 8, taught a list of 11 subjects over the course of each school year, and get an assessment annually? Unfortunately, there are no explicit exceptions for children with global developmental disabilities, regardless of the fact that they are like an infant intellectually.
Thankfully the law (in my state) has a clause that helps my daughter … “The standardized test administered or the annual academic progress assessment written shall be made a part of the child’s permanent records. If, as a result of the annual test or assessment, it is determined that the child is not making reasonable progress consistent with his or her age or stage of development, the parent shall make a good faith effort to remedy any deficiency.” (emphasis mine)
The law also states that “all decisions relating to philosophy or doctrine, selection of books, teaching materials and curriculum, and methods, timing and place in the provision or evaluation of home-based instruction shall be the responsibility of the parent except for matters specifically referred to in Chapter 28A.225 RCW. The homeschool law also states that the legislature recognizes that home-based instruction is less structured and more experiential than the instruction normally provided in a classroom. Therefore, the provisions relating to the nature and quantity of instructional and related educational activities shall be liberally construed.” (check with your state’s laws)
Our law allows me to be creative in educating my disabled daughter. Since she cannot write, talk, or express that she has learned anything, I have simply done my best to surround her with academic information & an enriching environment.
Every day she is right in the middle of all of her siblings as they work through their textbooks, read out loud, or do projects. She can not participate in arts and crafts projects on her own, but that hasn’t stopped us from helping her be involved when possible.
Because homeschooling has been such a blessing to us and I don’t want other parents of disabled children to miss out, I am sharing some resources that have been helpful to us. You can use my ideas to teach your own severely disabled child or use them to supplement your healthy children’s homeschool curriculum!
Oh, and my other children have definitely benefitted from the more relaxed style of teaching that I’ve learned to embrace because of my oldest daughter. God has a way of working all things together for our good, doesn’t He?
Relaxed Homeschooling Resources
How To Homeschool Your Disabled Child
Focus on helping them absorb information by adapting curriculum and resources to fit their needs. For us, this means using audio & visual aspects and simply including her in our activities by doing everything within the same room as her.
- Audio and DVDs. Our daughter is not deaf, so anything she can listen to is a plus. She is also not technically blind, so we do use DVDs as teaching tools. They function mostly as audio since she is only able to pay attention (or keep her eyes on the screen) for a few minutes. The audio and DVDs we have in our home are well-loved by all of our children.
Some that we love are:
Buddy Davis’ Amazing Adventures
And a variety of other DVDs from Master Books and Answers In Genesis. We watch Latin/Greek DVDs and listen to a variety of music including the Song School Spanish songs almost every day, too!
- Books of all types. Reading is one of the main ways we learn as a family. I have been very happy since switching to a literature-based history curriculum a couple of years ago. We also made the switch to more literature-based math and science curriculums this school year. It’s been really great for us!
We use way too many books to list them all, so I’ll just list our top favorites.
We read a wide selection of literature that correlates with the levels and year of Tapestry of Grace we are currently using. History has become my favorite subject to teach, thanks to ToG.
I have also been inspired to add in even more quality living history books for the weeks of homeschool when we need fewer textbooks and more real books.
I have put some time into researching and finding children’s books that teach a variety of subjects. For our daughter’s 10th birthday, we gave her 10 books with her name in the title to celebrate each year of her life. Some were just for fun, but many were educational.
Bonus parenting tip: search Amazon for “children’s books about <child’s name here>” and see what is available. They make great gifts! (less common names are harder to find, of course)
We use the Christian Liberty Nature Readers for science.
We also use Life of Fred for math. I love that they are all fun stories. Typically, the child would read them for themselves and work through the problems. But in our case, I love that I can read them to our disabled daughter without a lot of busy work or writing assignments required or expected.
I have my other children read to her which gives them reading practice while she benefits from it, too!
- Field Trips and Experiences
Though we deal with compromised immune systems in our family (not just our daughter, but myself and our other children), we have done our best to bring our children on “field trips” or provide experiences for them over the years. Our daughter is right there with us!
The zoo, museums, nature trails, wildlife parks, the ocean, etc. If it’s handicap accessible and has a low risk to our immune systems, we’ll go! Outdoor experiences in fair weather are the best!
The bottom line is, you can home educate your disabled child! You just have to think outside of the curriculum box, get a little creative, and make the most of it. It really is not a matter of if you can, but simply a matter of learning how to homeschool your disabled child!
- Think about how you can adapt educational experiences and resources to accommodate your disabled child and help them absorb an education.
- Think about input more than output – in other words, they may not be able to communicate what they understand or the knowledge they’ve gained, but that doesn’t mean they are not receiving an education!
I hope & pray that all states allow disabled children to be homeschooled so that they can receive a richer, safer education and quality of life! I am thankful that our home education law allows my daughter to be home in a medically safe environment while surrounded by the ones who love her most – it is where she is happiest!
Thank you for your insights and encouraging words. This is a very helpful article.
Thank you for this article! My son, with CP, legally blind, globally delayed, and with hypothyroidism from his brain injury will be 3 in January. Here, special needs kids are expected to be enrolled in early Pre-K at that age, as they age out of early steps. John Wes is also tube fed, due to dysphagia and can’t even sit up without support from a parent or his adaptive stroller. I really don’t want to send him to school, but at the same time, I don’t want to risk being looked at for neglect for not being able to teach him like a regular kid!
Great post! My eldest’s medical conditions were a factor in our choice to homeschool as well. I’m glad my state is much more relaxed on requirements though! We are also huge fans of Signing Time (and Baby Signing Time and Signing Time Sentences and Tree Schoolers ). He was totally non-verbal until right before his 6th birthday but sign gave us communication even though he modified much of it.
We also use a ton of tech (iPad apps and YouTube playlists mostly). My guy is not as delayed as your kiddos but his MRIs say he should be, you know how the brain can be funny though!
I look forward to reading more from you later! You can check out my blog (froginstiches.blogspot) for more on us if you want.
I’m considering homeschooling our multiply disabled son. How do show progress? Do you write your own IEP? How do you meet the state’s annual assessment/evaluation requirements etc? Thank you so much for suggestions in curriculum.
It will depend on your state. We meet yearly with a certified teacher to do an assessment. Our state requires reasonable progress based on the child’s developmental level… So it works out. I list everything we used for the year – all of the books, DVDs, audio that my daughter was exposed to and our certified teacher signs off on our efforts, more or less. We do not do an “IEP”. We are independently homeschooling without anyone to report to and I am 100% responsible for my daughter’s education, so no need for one.
Hi we live in houston, TX and I am ready to pull my son from public school we have had many problems. Where would I even start I’ve googled and all I have found is to withdraw him from his school but were do I go from their? Any advice will be good thank you
Look up your state laws on the HSLDA website and also see if your state has a Homeschool organization that can help you. Search Facebook for “Texas Homeschool organization”(add “Christian” if that’s what you’d like) and see if you can find an official/large page to follow or group to join and ask questions in there.
I do have some general information here:
https://www.clarissarwest.com/homeschooling-where-to-start
Thank you so much for this! Very encouraging! Even though you homeschool, does your daughter receive therapies through the school system or through private providers or perhaps there is another option that I am not aware of?
It might be different based on where you live, but here we can get therapies through the public school for free or use a service our insurance covers.
Your daughter sounds like my girl. She is turning 5 soon. We sent her to pre-k and I was not happy with her progress. She was learning sign language when at home but the school didn’t enforce it so she lost it. I really want to homeschool. You have given me encouragement.
I was wondering what state you are in. And how do i find out information for my son?
We are in WA. Go to https://hslda.org and look at the info for your state, to start. That will give you an overview of your state’s homeschooling laws. As far as homeschooling a child with disabilities, you will have to determine whether that seems possible with your state’s laws (it should be, but may take some creativity and research). Also, search for your state’s homeschool organization and ask them for help. In WA, the state organization is https://washhomeschool.org
Hello, I am in the UK and came across your article about homeschooling your daughter. I am concerned about a 10 year old boy in Kenya who has severe cerebral palsy. His Mum carries him around on her back, despite his age. Every day he cries when his siblings go to school, but the schools have no provision for him. I would love to send his mum some very simple resources. (Education in Kenya is in English, but his mum knows very little) – any ideas??
If she is not required (legally) to send him to school, then I would simply suggest she focus on his quality of life first and foremost. Academics are secondary to his health.
If he would like to learn academics, then I suggest they use any infant/preschool level resources that may be available to use in their home.
I HIGHLY recommend that she spend time reading to him every day. If the book has pictures, she can spend time showing them to him, talking about them, and letting him touch them. The Usborne book series “That’s Not My…” are great with my severely disabled daughter, we help her feel the textures (see them here: https://u3626.myubam.com/search?q=that%27s+not+my ).
You may find some books/activities they can use here, based on his developmental level: https://u3626.myubam.com/c/30/age-levels
If they have access to a DVD player, you may find the Signing Time series beneficial: https://amzn.to/381uCIl
It is hard for me to offer specific suggestions since I am not familiar with their lifestyle, their school regulations, or his mental capabilities. I believe his mother’s love and devotion are so important for his life and I pray that she is surrounded by God’s strength to continue caring for him.
I hope this helps a little. Let me know if you have any more questions!
THANK YOU, my sister is visiting in September and I will definitely send her with picture books as you’ve suggested, with textures. They don’t have any electricity, so DVDs sadly are not going to work, but you’ve helped me at least get a vision for some books I could send
Oh good! I’m glad I could be of some help!
hello, I really enjoyed your story,, Im in the process of pulling my son 13 year old son with server cp, out of reg. school and home schooling him. and its really franting, to find out what you , like what you can and cant get by with , especaily when they want to look at him at him like reg. kid,,, but im still trying to find the states laws for indiana ,,, what state are you out of ? and do you pretty well teach your on what you thinks best , are do you have her signed into a home school program ? just trying to get ides. well thank you very much
Here are your state’s homeschool laws: https://hslda.org/content/hs101/in.aspx
I highly suggest you contact HSLDA and ask them about your specific situation.
Thank you so much for this article. I have homeschooled 3 of our 4 kids with one now a full time college student at 16 years old. I have been trying to figure out how I can homeschool our son who has Duchenne MD and is non verbal and intellectually disabled. We considered putting him in school next year (he just turned 5) but we live extremely rural and our local school does not have a special needs program. I’d much rather homeschool him and now feel confident in doing so. Thank you, again, for writing this article.
I just wanted to say thank you for a lovely look at your homeschool life! I have 4 surviving quintuplets who are 19. Three of them are now in college, and each of them has a learning and physical challenge. Homeschooling them was challenging, but also full of blessings. Caterina is home with me, she is severely disabled. Not quite as involved as your daughter, but she is severely limited in mobility and has Epilepsy. You reminded me that we also immersed her in every school activity, as well. Her current favorite author is Jane Austen. We get audio books. Have you heard of Bookshare? They are a web based library for vision impaired or physically impaired students, and they have tons of book the will highlight and read to the student for immersive reading. You should be eligiblefora free account because your daughter is school aged.. Caterina isn’t always a fan of the Microsoft voice, but it helps her to have some of the longer books read that way. They have both Christian and secular books. I used Sonlight, which is a literature based program, and was able to find may of their books that way. When they hit high school, I wasn’t sure if she would get anything out of it, but she really likes some of the classics! And there is SO MUCH reading in high school that having audio books became a necessity. I discovered that it also helped my two dyslexic/dysgraphia students, as well, with comprehension and retention of information.
I feel a little adrift about our next steps. Caterina feels worried because her siblings “are going to leave”. They aren’t yet, but life is changing. We are trying to decide what a homeschool “post secondary education” will look like. I hope she can learn some self advocacy skills. I pray I can help her with being in the community (in this strange time, we don’t go anywhere, and she was already anxious in crowds, even our small church, with noise). I guess we all will keep growing and trusting God with the future!
Thank you for these kind words, for sharing your story, and offering encouragement!! Knowing others understand is always reassuring and I am thankful for that! It is an interesting time right now, although we aren’t very bothered since we have been homebound for the majority of the last 13 years because of our daughter. Still, now even her doctor appointments are via phone or internet so that’s a change! We are just continuing to meet our daughter’s needs based on her stage of development and quality of life. God bless you for your dedication to homeschool your 4 blessings … HE will continue to guide you!!
How do you grade your sn child? Is it a pass fail system?
My daughter is profoundly disabled (imagine the most crippled, wheelchair bound person and that’s pretty much her) and there is no way to determine what she is learning. We focus on input rather than output. Thankfully, in my state, we are looking at what is appropriate for her “developmental stage” and when the certified teacher evaluates her annually, that’s our basis for “grades”. I do not grade her otherwise.