Autism and home education

Written on 16th Mar 2015 by Sylvia Lowery

• Share

Autism and Home-Education

There has been a lot of discussion about autism and home education in the news lately. A lot of parents feel they are forced into providing an education at home for their children, because their needs are not being met in school. My son Alex is 20, he has autism and was home-educated from the age of 6 until just a few months short of his 20th birthday.

We began our home-ed journey when Alex was two. His brother and sister were six and seven and we felt this was the best fit for our family. I always imagined that Alex would be part of this exciting new adventure. Things never turn out as we imagine. Alex’s behaviour was becoming increasingly difficult and the delay in his language and development was amplified as he moved towards his third birthday. By the time Alex was four, we were given a verbal diagnosis of ‘Classic Autism’. This was devastating. It felt as though our world had fallen apart. I was six months pregnant when we were told this, and the Psychiatrist even said autism was genetic and the baby I was carrying might have autism. Alex’s behaviour was very difficult to cope with he was awake all night and would cry unless we kept replaying Thomas the Tank Engine videos. He would scream a lot of the day and would attack himself and others. The most heartbreaking part for me was the knowledge that he was in obvious torment, but when I tried to cuddle him he would become more distressed and either hit me or himself.

The Local Education Authority offered Alex a place at a specialist school for children with autism. We knew that parents fought to get their children into this school and it was the best option at the time. We had asked if we could have some support to keep Alex at home with his brother and sister, but the Local Authority said there was none available. I was heavily pregnant and exhausted. It was with heavy hearts that we agreed to send Alex to school. He seemed so little to be sent on a bus out of our area every morning and the guilt I felt was terrible. I felt like I had abandoned my weakest child, sent him away from the family because he was too difficult.

However, Alex settled into the new school and he had an amazing teacher who was very experienced with autism. For the first few weeks, she would phone me at home to tell me how Alex was getting on. The school managed to cut Alex’s toenails and hair which had become an almost impossible job. I have to confess that I saw the school and the teacher as a blessing from God and an answer to prayer. The break enabled us to establish a routine with Esther, Alex’s baby sister, and I was able to put a lot of work into teaching my older children.

Nevertheless, the desire to home educate Alex just wouldn’t go away. I always felt like there was a hole in our lives for the whole day that Alex was at school. As Alex moved into his second year at school, he began to become very withdrawn after school. He would just want to be alone and would be in his own world, making lots of movements. It felt like we were losing Alex, like I could no longer connect with him. He was coping with the routine of school, but was finding the rest of his life out of school difficult. I worried that Alex was not making progress and was perhaps learning skills in school, but they were not feeding through to his homelife.

One evening I attended a talk by a Clinical Psychologist who spoke about Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). I was so excited. I came home and ordered a book that was recommended and began to work with Alex after school. I began with non-verbal imitation. Alex loved doing this ‘special work’ and began to come out of himself. After a few months of working with Alex in the evening, one of his teachers described it as, ‘It’s like someone has switched a light on.’ I found out that this therapy was often home-based and would allow Alex to be home-educated with his brother and sisters. We asked the Local Education Authority if they would fund Alex’s therapy. The special school was costing as much as therapy, if the cost of a taxi was taken into place. To our amazement they agreed. They felt we had always been a homeschooling family and it would fit better with our lifestyle. The Clinical Psychologist, Educational Psychologist and the school’s headteacher agreed that Alex would make more progress if he was given one to one therapy.

So began many years of our home being taken over with therapy. It was very intense, with weekly meetings that would move Alex’s programme on. ABA uses reinforcement to engage the child. How this was applied was varied. The first rule was that the therapist had to be fun. Alex’s therapists used their own talents. One therapist was really good at art and she would draw amazing pictures of Alex’s latest interests. He would work for pieces of the puzzle that would make the final picture which would lead to a ‘big’ reward. The visual schedule gave Alex a sense of order, and his favourite activities were put on the schedule to help him keep on task with less favoured activities. A moment was never lost. Alex would be asked to recall his morning with little pictures of what he had just completed, which would be drawn to help him remember. Picture books were used to practise recall, inference, and language. ‘What’s Missing’ was a game that was played to help Alex’s memory. One therapist had her own hens. She would bring eggs from her hens and make pancakes with Alex, using the opportunity to work on recall, maths and sequencing. Another therapist made a bird box with Alex, and used the opportunity to work on safety, language, bird knowledge and, of course, the activity was re-enforcing. Alex was taught how to take turns by playing games such as ‘Pop-up Pirate’ and ‘Snap’. His younger sisters were dragged into these activities. It was my task to manage the therapists on a day to day basis and try to help Alex generalise the skills he was learning into everyday life. Whenever a therapist couldn’t make it I had to step in and run the session.

There was a point when we felt it was right to move consultants. Alex’s first consultant wanted to stop Alex from engaging in self stimulatory behaviour, 24 hours a day and we felt this was not right for Alex. We moved to another consultant who was involved with Alex’s programme for a few more years. She encouraged myself and the therapists to use Alex’s interests even more. One of the first consultations took place around a pond that Alex’s had built with his therapist. This pond was full of frogs and toads and we had a lot of fun that day. The great part about it was that Alex was learning new skills without even realising. He also developed a fascination with animation and a lot of sequencing and storytelling skills were sneaked into this special interest.

As Alex moved into his teens it became clear that he still had a lot of difficulties with reading and writing. I heard about a balancing board therapy called ‘The Learning Breakthrough Programme’. Alex followed this for two years. He credits this programme with helping him to sometimes feel able to give eye contact, and it helped Alex’s writing really improve. Alex also followed a lot of the normal school subjects, but we were able to tailor the teaching to his personal way of learning. Alex finds it impossible to keep on task unless he is able to process the information by engaging with the material. To this end, we taught Alex Geography by buying him a talking globe. He would be able to place the pen on the country and hear facts about that country. Alex loved this and at one point knew all the countries in the world just by their shape. Alex learnt about other countries by hearing about how people lived in those countries and what the climate was like, the religion, traditions and clothing. Alex learnt about science through making a nature book, visits to the Zoo and looking through a microscope.

As Alex grew older he became interested in photography. He was able to study some 10 point photography and film-making courses through the Open University. He struggled with some of the technical information, but was able to pass both on the basis of his final photographs and film. When Alex turned 16, a lot of the traditional subjects were dropped, except for Maths and English which Alex still studies, even now. Instead a lot of attention was given to life skills. Alex also followed some part-time horse care courses and worked at the filmmaking and photography. He became the Riding for the Disabled Association photographer and got his Grand Prior Award with St. John’s Ambulance. A short while later, Alex was mentored in public speaking with Autism Cymru. This has grown to the point where Alex is now earning a living as a public speaker.

There have been a number of advantages of home education for Alex. Firstly, he has always learnt new skills in the community where he lives. A lot of people know Alex and he is comfortable with the library staff and shopkeepers. Transition would have been a lot harder if Alex had attended school in another county. Alex has followed a lot of his interests, and these interests have turned into a career, like public speaking about autism, photography and filmmaking. Alex is close to his siblings because they were educated together at home. They all understand Alex’s autism and are very supportive and proud of him. Alex has never faced unpleasantness in everyday life. This means he is confident and happy.

Unless otherwise indicated, all materials on this page are © Alex Lowery Speaks About Autism. Please do not reproduce, modify or use for any purpose without the prior, written consent of the author. If you are interested in using an article on your blog or in your magazine, please contact us.