Is homeschooling or public school better for a child with learning disabilities? When a child is struggling in school, his parents know public education isn’t meeting their child’s needs. When a child is homeschooled and struggling to learn, his parents wonder if they should enroll him in public school to get specialized help. Parents often believe a public school teacher with training will enable their child to be more successful.
In one study, children who have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder were studied in public school and homeschool settings. Study results showed the “homeschool students were academically engaged about two times as often as public school students and experienced more reading and math gains”.1 The authors also state, “The low student-teacher ratio in homeschools, and not specialized training, enabled parents to create effective instructional environments.”1 In other words, it is not teacher training that allows a child to be successful; it is engaged, one-on-one teaching that is the key to academic progress.
My child’s story is a prime example of how time spent in “academic engagement” and a low student-teacher ratio can mean substantial progress, and conversely—how a lack of these factors can mean little educational progress.
When my son was in public school, he went to a special education classroom 50 minutes per day for specialized reading instruction. There were nine children in his resource class. When the teacher’s time was divided between the students in his class, it equaled (at most) six minutes of one-on-one instruction per day (50 minutes ÷ 9 students = 5.55 minutes). In five years of attending public school, my son didn’t achieve a first grade reading level even with “specialized instruction”.
Conversely, when we began homeschooling, we spent two hours per day working on reading skills. I was homeschooling two children, which meant each of them received about one hour of individualized reading instruction per day. After two years of homeschooling, my son was reading at a tenth grade equivalent. Instruction at home brought about meaningful education progress, even though I did not hold a degree in special education or any related field. The key to our success was primarily the amount of time our son spent “academically engaged” in one-on-one instruction.
My son’s reading teacher in public school was a certified reading specialist with a Master’s Degree. When we began homeschooling, I held a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems and attended a two-week course to learn about teaching reading to children with dyslexia. While my son’s teacher was better trained, her training alone was not sufficient for providing meaningful progress in reading.
In another study called “Defying the Stereotypes of Special Education: Home School Students,” 2 Jacque Ensign conducted a 9-year study of 100 homeschooled students with learning disabilities and giftedness. Ensign’s study showed the students with learning disabilities made more progress than students with similar classifications in public school. Many studies show ‘typical’ homeschooled students outperform publicly schooled students—Ensign’s study shows the same applies to children with learning differences. Ensign notes the key differences between the homeschool environment and the traditional classroom environment are “a focus on the whole child rather than primarily on the child’s disability; individualized attention; and care, patience, and respect for the child.”
The study surmises public schools focus on what a child can’t do, rather than on what he can do. Public schools operate with a ‘disabled’ focus. Parents tend to operate with an ‘enabled’ focus by concentrating on what a child can do and moving forward from there. If you homeschool your child, you are likely to focus on your whole child, on his abilities, not primarily on his area of disability. You will give your child individualized attention when you are teaching him, and can use creative, hands-on ways for instructing your child. You will not be required to proceed through instruction to meet an arbitrary schedule, as they do in public school, so you can let your child’s level of learning guide your teaching. With any reasonable degree of patience, you will help your child make meaningful progress each day.
Take comfort in the study data, which shows homeschooling is very effective for students with learning disabilities, just as it is with almost any student. One-on-one attention from you, with an added measure of faith, can help your child exceed all expectations. Homeschooling is a great educational choice for children with learning differences.
References
1Delquadri, J., Duval, S., & Ward,D., (2004). A preliminary investigation of the effectiveness of homeschool instructional environments for students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. School Psychology Review, Volume 33, Number 1, 140-158
2Ensign, J., (2000). Defying the stereotypes of special education: Home school students. Peabody Journal of Education. Volume 75, Number 1 & 2, 147-158.
Used with special permission by Sandy Cook and www.learningabledkids.com