As we go through some of the literature on homeschooling Autistic children, it’s important to bear in mind that this is a relatively unexplored topic in terms of peer-reviewed research. There are only a very small number of studies that we can refer to, and these studies are not without methodological weaknesses.

Many of the studies described here, for example, rely on small samples, lack comparison to Autistic children who stayed in school, and report only on academic outcomes. Given these limitations, it is best to think of this research as a springboard for discussion rather than as a broader evaluation of homeschooling as an option for Autistic children.

Autistic and neurodivergent children often have additional learning needs that may be difficult to accommodate in a mainstream educational setting. While New Zealand schools are required to make reasonable efforts to accommodate neurodivergent children, these efforts sometimes fall short of what the child needs to achieve their potential and / or comfortably get through the school day. When this happens, some parents turn to homeschooling or other alternative education set ups such as Te Kura (The Correspondence School) or private schools. These set-ups became especially popular during and following the Covid-19 pandemic (Feeney et al., 2020).

Although there is some research that broadly canvasses parents’ experiences of homeschooling Autistic children, there is very little research that evaluates education outcomes for these children.

Sara Meyer shares what the research says about homeschooling Autistic children as well as pointers for setting up the optimal schooling conditions for Autistic children.

Smiling boy draws with pencil on the paper.

Research about Homeschooling Autistic Children

In a study of nine homeschooling families with Autistic children, Simmons and Campbell (2019) noted that most families who switched to homeschooling did so when their child was in approximately 4th grade (age 10). Some had decided to homeschool after a catalyst event at school – for example, a significant meltdown or disciplinary proceeding, while others simply felt homeschooling was better for their child.

There was significant variation in the curricula used for the child. Many families reported using unschooling methods, which is a low structure, play-based approach with no formal instruction or curriculum. There is some evidence to suggest that these methods are associated with poor educational outcomes. Other families followed a mix of structured and unstructured learning. Many did not meet the minimum state requirement of four and a half hours of instruction per day and most children did not receive instruction in all required content areas (e.g., maths, reading, science).

Overall, the authors of the study concluded that homeschooling was likely to produce negative educational outcomes for Autistic children. This was mostly because families did not implement evidence-based educational programmes in their home and spent too little time doing schoolwork. In particular, the unschooling method contradicts evidence-based guidelines for teaching Autistic children, which emphasise teaching that occurs in short instructional intervals in a controlled learning environment (Wong et al., 2014).

It is difficult to say what the educational outcomes would be for homeschooled Autistic children who were taught using a structured, proven curriculum. This is one of the major problems in homeschooling research in general, as families tend to use diverse methods of educating their children that are difficult to compare to one another.

Perhaps for this reason, findings relating to academic achievement in homeschooled children are mixed. Some studies suggest that the decision to homeschool does not significantly affect academic achievement once demographic variables such as household income and parent level of education are taken into account. Others suggest that homeschooled children may be slightly ahead of their peers in reading and writing and slightly behind in maths. Finally, research seems to indicate that there are more homeschooled children at both extremes of academic achievement- with some doing very poorly and others doing exceptionally well. Students who followed an unschooling curriculum tended to underperform, while students who followed a more structured curriculum sometimes outperformed their peers. Better quality research is needed to untangle these findings (Kunzman & Gaither, 2020).

Although it is difficult to draw conclusions about educational outcomes for homeschooled Autistic children, research has identified some positive social and emotional outcomes. Parents of homeschooled Autistic children reported that their children were calmer, less stressed, happy, intellectually stimulated, and able to avoid bullies (Simmons & Campbell, 2019). This meant that they had fewer meltdowns and were not distressed on a daily basis by having to attend school.

In a synthesis of several studies, O’Hagan and colleagues also reported social and emotional benefits of homeschooling. According to parents, 51% of participants across the studies showed drastically increased motivation and engagement in learning, while 57% showed drastically decreased distressed behaviour/overwhelm and 52% seemed to have decreased stress levels. Almost 57% of families surveyed reported a drastic increase in household functioning. Children were increasingly described as “happy, healthy and confident” (2021).

Although sample sizes were small and these studies relied on parent-report, most families also reported positive educational outcomes. We should be careful to note, however, that no academic assessments were performed in any of these studies.

Parent reports may well have been unconsciously biased by their feeling of having invested significant time in homeschooling their child, which might have led them to overestimate the positive outcomes that occurred. In addition, none of the studies used control groups, which would have meant that homeschooled Autistic children would be compared to Autistic children who remained in mainstream education.

Without this data, we cannot really make any decisive statements about the value of homeschooling for Autistic children. At best, the available data can provide a starting point for future research.

One of the key themes that came through in research around homeschooling Autistic children was that families often felt they had no other option. When asked about their reason for homeschooling, the most commonly cited reasons were:

• Unhappy with school placement
• Unhappy with educational programme in school
• Insufficient services to support school attendance
• Child’s negative feelings towards school, including depression and anxiety while attending school
• Concerns about safety
• Bullying
• Sensory issues
• School’s inability to manage behaviour, and
• Negative interactions with school

In this sense, the decision to homeschool may not come down to optimal educational outcomes, but rather the child’s emotional health and wellbeing. This speaks not necessarily to the benefits of homeschooling, but rather to the breakdown of many conventional educational placements for Autistic children. More research is needed to identify whether homeschooling benefits Autistic children beyond providing an escape from the demands and stressors of mainstream education (O’Hagan et al., 2021).

Optimal School Settings for Autistic children

While there is less research relating to the benefits of homeschooling, there are some good studies that can help us identify what characteristics of educational settings are beneficial for Autistic students. Below are some of these findings, many taken from a survey of Autistic high school students by Bottema-Beutal and colleagues (2019):

Friendships with peers are important

60% reported that peers contributed positively to their high school Friendships were protective against bullying. Friendships with peers were especially valuable when the peers had similar interests to the Autistic students (video games were often mentioned). They also provided important emotional support and a sense of belonging/inclusion. 10-20% of Autistic students said they wished peers understood autism better and made more effort to accept their differences. Friendships with other Autistic students were especially a life-line.

Support from teachers matters

60% reported that teachers had a positive impact on their high school experience. Teachers were especially helpful when they were able to provide individualized instruction that matched the needs, motivations, and learning preferences of their neurodivergent They were also important in helping the students manage bullying.

Teacher attitudes and beliefs about neurodivergence make a difference

When teachers understood neurodivergence and approached neurodivergent students with compassion and respect, they were able to build trusting relationships with students. Autistic students also wanted more help from teachers to manage their emotions at school (e.g., support with anxiety and meltdowns), and felt that teachers needed more education around this.

Parents are important

Parents’ willingness to help facilitate social interaction was especially important (e.g., driving the student to visit friends, inviting friends to visit). Emotional support from parents was also important.

Bullying and loneliness are common

Bullying and loneliness affected 13-31% of neurodivergent students.

A smooth transition

A smooth transition with visits to the school before starting and having a chance to establish routines and accommodations ahead of time was optimal (Peters & Brooks, 2016).

Educational activities that featured strong interests were successful

This could look like reading a book or writing a paper around a topic of interest, rather than the same topic the rest of the class is working on, learning to code or write computer programmes, or participating in a favourite sport or arts activity at school. Accessing these interests supported learning, task completion, communication, socialisation, feelings of belonging, enjoyment of school, motor skills, attention to detail, and ambition for the future (Wood, 2019). Autistic students benefit from having access to technology at school (Danker & Cumming, 2019).

Generally, these priorities appear fairly similar to those of typically developing students, but with specific needs around emotional support / anxiety, autism awareness and acceptance, and accommodations to the curriculum.

Accommodations that may benefit Autistic students include:

• Communication devices such as visual supports or AAC These may help even students who can use speech to communicate, as Autistic people may sometimes struggle to speak in certain situations (situational mutism). Access to communication devices can provide a break from having to communicate through speech all the time.
• Modifications to seating: seating the child in the area of the classroom that is most comfortable for This may be away from bright lights, loud noises, or other sensory triggers.
• Modifications to the timetable to allow for breaks, quiet time or different start or finish times.
• Breaks in the timetable where the child has a choice of
• Extra time to complete work or
• Voluntary access to a quiet space or sensory room (note that students should never be placed in involuntary or punitive seclusion).
• Sunglasses or headphones to block out light and
• Objects that help the child regulate their body, such as a bean bag, rocking chair, or fidget toy.
• Opportunities during the school day to engage with interests (e.g., Lego club, doing a project around a topic of interest).
• Options around involvement in group work or school assemblies (being offered a choice to work alone or with just one other person; being able to stay in the classroom or sit on the sidelines during assemblies).
• Access to technology that supports learning, such as a computer or iPad
• A printed schedule or timetable to show what is coming next
• Choices and options around how to demonstrate understanding (e.g., visually rather than in writing).
• Executive functioning tools such as a diary or list to help keep track of

These supports can be implemented in any education setting. They may be introduced in a mainstream education setting (start the process by talking to your child’s teacher or your school Special Education Needs Coordinator / Learning Support Coordinator, or in a homeschool setting. Other options include Te Kura (The Correspondence School) and specialist schools.

More Information

The following website provides an extensive resource for teachers of Autistic students:

https://seonline.tki.org.nz/ASD/Resources-and-tools/ASD-for-educators/Read-online- version

You can also read more about how to advocate for education supports for your child in our article: Five Top Tips for Advocating for Your Child’s Right to Education: https://parent2parent.org.nz/resource-hub/five-top-tips-for-advocating-for-your-childs- right-to-education/

References

Bottema-Beutel, K., Cuda, J., Kim, S., Crowley, S., & Scanlon, D. (2019). High school experiences and support recommendations of autistic youth. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04261-0

Danker, J., Strnadová, I., & Cumming, T. (2019). Picture my well-being: Listening to the voices of students with autism spectrum disorder. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 89, 130–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2019.04.005

Feeney, P. T. (2020). Home-schooling children with special needs during COVID-19 quarantine: Parents speak candidly about the challenges and realizations. Tap into South Plainfield. https://www.tapinto.net/towns/south-plainfield/sections/board-of-education-articles/home-schooling-children-with-special-needs-during-covid-19

Kunzman, R., & Gaither, M. (2020). Homeschooling: An updated comprehensive survey of the research. Other Education: The Journal of Educational Alternatives, 9(1), 253-336.

O’Hagan, S., Bond, C., & Hebron, J. (2021). What do we know about home education and autism? A thematic synthesis review. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 80, 101711. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2020.101711

Peters, R., & Brooks, R. (2016). Parental perspectives on the transition to secondary school for students with Asperger syndrome and high-functioning autism: A pilot survey study. British Journal of Special Education, 43(1), 75–91. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8578.12125

Simmons, C. A., & Campbell, J. M. (2019). Homeschool decision-making and evidence-based practice for children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 31, 329-346. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-019-09665-5

Wong, C., Odom, S., Hume, K., Cox, A., Fettig, A., Kucharczyk, S., Brock, M. E., Plavnick, J., Fleury, V. P., & Schultz, T. R. (2014). Evidence-based practices for children, youth, and young adults with autism spectrum disorder. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute.

Wood, R. (2019). Autism, intense interests and support in school: From wasted efforts to shared understandings. Educational Review. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2019.1566213