The decision often doesn't happen all at once. It builds over months of IEP meetings that feel circular, of watching a child shut down at drop-off, of school reports that describe a child you barely recognize. When parents of children with special needs decide to homeschool, they're usually not running toward an ideal. This guide covers the practical layer: which curriculum formats suit different disabilities, how to access therapies you may not realize you can still keep, what your state requires, and how hybrid models let you do both. Choosing a Curriculum That Fits the Disability. There is no universal curriculum for homeschooling a child with special needs. The right fit depends on how your child learns. For children with autism, structure and predictability matter. Scripted or highly sequential programs like the Sonday System (for reading) or Teaching Textbooks (for math) reduce ambiguity and work well for visual and sequential learners. Many parents also find success with unit study approaches that go deep on one topic at a time rather than switching subjects throughout the day. For children with dyslexia, the curriculum choice is often the most consequential decision you make. Orton-Gillingham-based programs are the gold standard: All About Reading and All About Spelling are widely used adaptations designed for structured literacy. The critical feature is explicit phonics instruction with multisensory reinforcement. Whole-language approaches will not close the gap. For children with ADHD, flexibility in schedule matters more than any specific curriculum. Short work sessions with physical breaks, project-based learning...

How to select curriculum by disability, access OT/PT/speech services, meet state requirements, and explore part-time hybrid options.

Homeschooling Your Child with Special Needs: A Complete Guide

The decision often doesn't happen all at once. It builds over months of IEP meetings that feel circular, of watching a child shut down at drop-off, of school reports that describe a child you barely recognize. When parents of children with special needs decide to homeschool, they're usually not running toward an ideal. This guide covers the practical layer: which curriculum formats suit different disabilities, how to access therapies you may not realize you can still keep, what your state requires, and how hybrid models let you do both. Choosing a Curriculum That Fits the Disability. There is no universal curriculum for homeschooling a child with special needs. The right fit depends on how your child learns. For children with autism, structure and predictability matter. Scripted or highly sequential programs like the Sonday System (for reading) or Teaching Textbooks (for math) reduce ambiguity and work well for visual and sequential learners. Many parents also find success with unit study approaches that go deep on one topic at a time rather than switching subjects throughout the day. For children with dyslexia, the curriculum choice is often the most consequential decision you make. Orton-Gillingham-based programs are the gold standard: All About Reading and All About Spelling are widely used adaptations designed for structured literacy. The critical feature is explicit phonics instruction with multisensory reinforcement. Whole-language approaches will not close the gap. For children with ADHD, flexibility in schedule matters more than any specific curriculum. Short work sessions with physical breaks, project-based learning...

This app focuses on improving receptive language skills but is also good for expressive language skills. It asks the user to select which item out of a group goes with another item, based on use or function. For example, a child who is shown a picture of a toothbrush would have to pick a picture of a tube of toothpaste out of a group of other objects including a paint can and a shoe. The What Goes Together? app comes with built-in reinforcement and error correction. The images are clear and easily identifiable everyday objects. What Goes Together? is most effective when reasons behind choices can be discussed with the child. This app also helps with fine motor skills and auditory comprehension. What Goes Together? is available on iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch for $1.99. For more information, go here.

What Goes Together? app enhances receptive/expressive language by matching related items and costs $1.99 for iOS devices.

Special Needs App of the Day: What Goes Together?

This app focuses on improving receptive language skills but is also good for expressive language skills. It asks the user to select which item out of a group goes with another item, based on use or function. For example, a child who is shown a picture of a toothbrush would have to pick a picture of a tube of toothpaste out of a group of other objects including a paint can and a shoe.  The What Goes Together? app comes with built-in reinforcement and error correction. The images are clear and easily identifiable everyday objects. What Goes Together? is most effective when reasons behind choices can be discussed with the child. This app also helps with fine motor skills and auditory comprehension. What Goes Together? is available on iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch for $1.99. For more information, go here.


Designed by Mobile Education Tools, Story Builder is one of the highest-ranked reading apps for iPad. The app is designed to achieve the following goals: Improve paragraph formation Improve integration of ideas Improve higher level abstractions by inference The audio clips in the program are ideal for children with special needs such as those with autism or with sensory processing disorders, and it gives children that extra sensory input to improve memory and learning. Most children by age 2 or 3 are telling stories about their daily events, and by ages 3 to 5, children are re-telling familiar stories. Story Builder is an excellent aid for children who have difficulty creating or telling stories. The app includes the following features: Ability for a child to record a narrative in his own voice Includes three levels of play 50 story lines to choose from 500 audio clips of questions, and option to use questions and answers for reinforcement Ability to e-mail recorded stories When using this app, children are able to record answers to questions, and the answers are then combined together to create a narrative. Each story includes colorful pictures, and children are prompted to answer the question of what is happening in the picture, or they are asked to give details about the picture, such as what is occurring or what will happen next. The child records his response and moves on to the next question. The child may also repeat the question and listen...

Story Builder is an iPad app aiding kids, especially with special needs, to record and build stories, enhancing memory and learning.

Special Needs App of the Day: Story Builder

Designed by Mobile Education Tools, Story Builder is one of the highest-ranked reading apps for iPad. The app is designed to achieve the following goals:  Improve paragraph formation Improve integration of ideas Improve higher level abstractions by inference  The audio clips in the program are ideal for children with special needs such as those with autism or with sensory processing disorders, and it gives children that extra sensory input to improve memory and learning. Most children by age 2 or 3 are telling stories about their daily events, and by ages 3 to 5, children are re-telling familiar stories. Story Builder is an excellent aid for children who have difficulty creating or telling stories. The app includes the following features:  Ability for a child to record a narrative in his own voice Includes three levels of play 50 story lines to choose from 500 audio clips of questions, and option to use questions and answers for reinforcement Ability to e-mail recorded stories  When using this app, children are able to record answers to questions, and the answers are then combined together to create a narrative. Each story includes colorful pictures, and children are prompted to answer the question of what is happening in the picture, or they are asked to give details about the picture, such as what is occurring or what will happen next. The child records his response and moves on to the next question. The child may also repeat the question and listen...

Summertime marks the end of the school year, a time to relax. But a summer without structure can be a problem for children with ADHD and their unique minds. For parents, it’s the perfect time for reflection, a time to evaluate your child’s behavior and past performance in school, and an opportunity to implement more effective habits and routines for the coming year. There are several easy steps you can follow to ensure you spend the summer months wisely. MAINTAIN STRUCTURE AND ROUTINE Create a schedule and implement a contract with your child that balances activities they enjoy with ones that children with ADHD consider “boring,” like reading. Post goals and place them where your child will see them. Following a structured schedule will strengthen your child’s ability to meet expectations. EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT Break the scheduled activities into short 30-minute increments or less. Alternate fun tasks with mundane ones. This way, your child is more likely to sustain focus and attention and see tasks to completion. REINFORCE GOOD BEHAVIOR Whatever you put emphasis on grows, so you want to reinforce good behavior, not criticize bad behavior. This instills higher self-esteem and confidence, bolstering their determination to succeed, which can carry over to the following school year. EXPLORE NEW INTERESTS Use the summer months to implement new strategies for changing behavior and improving neuro-cognitive impairments. Children with ADHD are consistently looking for new activities to stimulate the brain. Using a fun brain training routine each day, such as the AttenGo...

For kids with ADHD, maintaining summer structure through scheduled, varied activities and positive reinforcement helps improve habits.

Title: Summertime Recommendations for Children with ADHD

For kids with ADHD, maintaining summer structure through scheduled, varied activities and positive reinforcement helps improve habits.

As parents know, a child's misbehavior can create chaos, disorder and discontent within a family that often leads to guilt, disappointment and frustration that can cloud even the very best intentions. Parents and caregivers may have found themselves simply reacting rather than thinking through the best way to handle the situation out of sheer frustration. For frustrated parents ready to tear their hair out, Dr. Ira Chasnoff, MD, president of Children’s Research Triangle and leading researcher in the field of child development, offers an eight-eight step structured problem-solving approach to behavior management in his new book, The Mystery of Risk: Drugs, Alcohol, Pregnancy and the Vulnerable Child, written in an effort to help families who are struggling with children deemed 'at-risk' because of behaviors during pregnancy and a lack of proper care and support after. Chasnoff provides practical behavior management techniques and proven intervention tips for parents biological, foster, or adoptive as well as teachers and healthcare practitioners. Dr. Chasnoff’s key concepts of reinforcement, punishment and logical consequences which can help parents make their child more compliant, better able to complete his homework, and less inclined to hit others when frustrated or angry. Step 1: Identify the specific behavior that needs to be changed and pinpoint what the difficulty is. Step 2: Take actual notes on the frequency and duration of behavior. Step 3: Establish contributing factors: try to understand the multiple biological and environmental factors that contribute to the inappropriate behaviors, such as a child becoming agitated every...

Dr. Ira Chasnoff presents an 8-step method for managing children's behavioral issues in 'The Mystery of Risk' to aid parents and educators.

Leading Pediatric Expert Offers Eight Step Technique for Managing Children&#8217;s Behavioral Problems

As parents know, a child's misbehavior can create chaos, disorder and discontent within a family that often leads to guilt, disappointment and frustration that can cloud even the very best intentions. Parents and caregivers may have found themselves simply reacting rather than thinking through the best way to handle the situation out of sheer frustration. For frustrated parents ready to tear their hair out, Dr. Ira Chasnoff, MD, president of Children’s Research Triangle and leading researcher in the field of child development, offers an eight-eight step structured problem-solving approach to behavior management in his new book, The Mystery of Risk: Drugs, Alcohol, Pregnancy and the Vulnerable Child, written in an effort to help families who are struggling with children deemed 'at-risk' because of behaviors during pregnancy and a lack of proper care and support after. Chasnoff provides practical behavior management techniques and proven intervention tips for parents biological, foster, or adoptive as well as teachers and healthcare practitioners. Dr. Chasnoff’s key concepts of reinforcement, punishment and logical consequences which can help parents make their child more compliant, better able to complete his homework, and less inclined to hit others when frustrated or angry.  Step 1: Identify the specific behavior that needs to be changed and pinpoint what the difficulty is. Step 2: Take actual notes on the frequency and duration of behavior. Step 3: Establish contributing factors: try to understand the multiple biological and environmental factors that contribute to the inappropriate behaviors, such as a child becoming agitated every...

You've probably heard "evidence-based" attached to a dozen interventions by now. Some worked. Some didn't. Some worked beautifully in the therapist's office and fell apart the moment you tried them at home. When it comes to teaching independence skills, three methods show up consistently in research and survive the transition to real life: task analysis, positive reinforcement, and real-world practice. They work because they break complex skills into steps your child can learn, recognize progress when it happens, and build capability in the places where it matters. Here's what each method is, how it works, and what it looks like when you're using it at home. Task Analysis: Breaking Skills Into Steps You Can Teach. Task analysis sounds clinical. What it means: you take a skill that feels overwhelming and break it into small, teachable steps. Getting dressed isn't one skill. It's fifteen. Pulling on pants requires balance, sequencing, fine motor control, and the ability to distinguish front from back. When your child struggles with "getting dressed," task analysis helps you identify which step is the actual barrier. Here's how it works. Pick the skill you want to teach. Write down every single step required to complete it, in order. Then teach one step at a time. Example: putting on a t-shirt. Pick up the shirt Find the tag, which identifies the back Hold the shirt with the tag facing away Put your head through the neck opening Locate the right armhole Thread your right arm through Locate the...

Task analysis, positive reinforcement, and real-world practice help children build daily living skills that last.

Evidence-Based Methods for Teaching Independence Skills

You've probably heard "evidence-based" attached to a dozen interventions by now. Some worked. Some didn't. Some worked beautifully in the therapist's office and fell apart the moment you tried them at home. When it comes to teaching independence skills, three methods show up consistently in research and survive the transition to real life: task analysis, positive reinforcement, and real-world practice. They work because they break complex skills into steps your child can learn, recognize progress when it happens, and build capability in the places where it matters. Here's what each method is, how it works, and what it looks like when you're using it at home. Task Analysis: Breaking Skills Into Steps You Can Teach. Task analysis sounds clinical. What it means: you take a skill that feels overwhelming and break it into small, teachable steps. Getting dressed isn't one skill. It's fifteen. Pulling on pants requires balance, sequencing, fine motor control, and the ability to distinguish front from back. When your child struggles with "getting dressed," task analysis helps you identify which step is the actual barrier. Here's how it works. Pick the skill you want to teach. Write down every single step required to complete it, in order. Then teach one step at a time. Example: putting on a t-shirt.  Pick up the shirt Find the tag, which identifies the back Hold the shirt with the tag facing away Put your head through the neck opening Locate the right armhole Thread your right arm through Locate the...

Task analysis, positive reinforcement, and real-world practice help children build daily living skills that last.

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Special Needs
Articles

Homeschooling Your Child with Special Needs: A Complete Guide

Special Needs App of the Day: What Goes Together?

Special Needs App of the Day: Story Builder

Title: Summertime Recommendations for Children with ADHD

Leading Pediatric Expert Offers Eight Step Technique for Managing Children’s Behavioral Problems

Evidence-Based Methods for Teaching Independence Skills

Find Providers Near You

Special Needs Articles

Homeschooling Your Child with Special Needs: A Complete Guide

Special Needs App of the Day: What Goes Together?

Special Needs App of the Day: Story Builder

Title: Summertime Recommendations for Children with ADHD

Leading Pediatric Expert Offers Eight Step Technique for Managing Children&#8217;s Behavioral Problems

Evidence-Based Methods for Teaching Independence Skills

Find Providers Near You

Special Needs
Articles

Leading Pediatric Expert Offers Eight Step Technique for Managing Children’s Behavioral Problems