5 YO with ASD - wondering if we should just cover academics at home?

[Anonymous]

I have a five year old with Autism finishing up kindergarten. He's very capable academically, but basically spends all day at school dysregulated. Both we and the personnel at his school have been focused on his behaviors, which unfortunately are disruptive, but lately I've also realized he isn't regulated enough to learn academics at school. It hasn't been a big deal in kindergarten because he's grasped most of the academics intuitively, but I think it will become more of a problem as the academic material gets harder. For various reasons we can't homeschool, but I'm wondering if we should just plan on teaching him the academic content at home and hope that at school he can work on social-emotional skills. He is pretty burnt out after school and aftercare, so I've been toying around with the idea of buying first grade math and writing workbooks and working with him on that over the summer. On one hand I don't want to make him bored in first grade, but based on how kindergarten is going I think next year is going to be a disaster no matter what, and at least he'd be less likely to fall behind academically. He also loves learning and I'd like to keep that spark alive.

BTW, he gets some supports at school and is getting an IEP to formalize those supports, but based on where things are presently I don't foresee things improving in the near term.

Are there any parents who have been or are in a similar situation out there? I'm curious what you decided to do.

[Anonymous]

Can you repeat kindergarten at another school that’s better equipped to handle this, while continuing to supplement at home for academics?

[Anonymous]

This is what I’ve been doing with my asd son. He is swift in reading and math and academically in general. Have been teaching him at home. Send him to school solely to learn to build friendships.

[Anonymous]

If you’re in MCPS, look into the Autism Connections Program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is what I’ve been doing with my asd son. He is swift in reading and math and academically in general. Have been teaching him at home. Send him to school solely to learn to build friendships.

+1

[Anonymous]

We supplement academics at home as well but don't lose faith that as your child matures, his dysregulation will lesson.

We went from multiple phone calls per week, sometimes multiple per day including multiple requests to pick him up early in K to very few during the year in 1st and now just one total (knock on wood) in second. The difference between age 5 and 8 is tremendous as is the benefit of an IEP and medication. Based on the constant state of dysregulation in K, we never fathomed the possibility our son could go from straight 1's on the K report card to 3's and 4's with very little dysregulation at school in second.

Something else that has helped us over the summers is enrolling him in a very inclusive camp. He loves it and at his last IEP meeting during the ESY portion the AP made a comment that rung true for us-that some students regress if not receiving ESY services but DS experiences growth. I believe it's from the nurturing environment of the camp and the learning/activities they do every week.

[Anonymous]

If your child is willing, making sure they are ready for 1st grade academically will only help them.

But your bigger priority is figuring out what is dysregulating them at school at advocating for a different placement, if necessary. Going through the day dysregulated is awful for everyone.

[Anonymous]

OP. Thanks for all the advice and thoughts everyone. We're not in MCPS, though that program seems like it would be wonderful for my son. I'm going to go ahead and supplement at home. I think it will be better to get out in front of the academics issue, which frankly feels like one of the few things I can address successfully right now, rather than wait for academic deficits to become a problem later on.