Online Homeschooling

Archive for the ‘Special Needs Homeschooling’ Category

Asperger’s Syndrome is an autism spectrum disorder. Children diagnosed with Asperger’s show significant difficulties in social interaction, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. Unlike autistic children, Asperger’s children preserve higher levels of linguistic and cognitive development.

Children with Asperger’s are not mentally challenged. In fact, many of them are gifted. They are however socially impaired and need a lot of patience and one-on-one adult interaction, both of which are not typically available in a traditional school setting.

Aspie children are essentially socially impaired and have a very hard time socializing with other kids. With ongoing training and lots of adult feedback and assistance they can learn basic social skills, but they’ll probably always seem “different” to other kids, which often means rejection, bullying and taunting.

Many parents to Aspie children decide at some point that public school is simply not a good environment for their child. For some families, small private schools provide the answer, while for others, homeschooling is the perfect solution.

Aspie kids often flourish when homeschooled because they are removed from a stressful social situation and can focus their energies on academics, and on gentle, guided socializing. Unlike the harsh classroom environment at school, the homeschooled Asperger’s child can experience positive social experiences through family activities and homeschool group activities, where, unlike school, parents are there to help, guide and give gentle feedback.

3D online homeschooling is especially suited to Asperger’s children because many Aspie kids flourish in an online 3D environment, which they perceive as safer and less threatening than face to face interaction. Research shows that face-to face interactions are extremely difficult for people with Asperger’s while interactions via computer virtual environment technology are more manageable because they tend to be slower than face-to-face interactions. Slowing down the rate of interactions may provide users with autism-type disorders with time to think of alternative ways of dealing with a particular situation, thus reducing their anxiety level.

Of course, we are not recommending that kids with Asperger’s be totally removed from in-person social situations. But we do believe that the combination of online, special needs homeschooling and gentle, supervised real-life social exposure is very beneficial to Aspie kids and enables them to reach their full potential, academically and socially.

An OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) is an anxiety disorder in which a person has an unreasonable thought, fear, or worry (obsession) that they try to manage through a ritualized activity (compulsion).

Common obsessions in children include fear of dirt and germs, the need to have things in a certain order, and aggressive impulses such as hair pulling. These obsessions lead to compulsions, which are repeated over and over, such as washing hands and arranging items in a specific order. These compulsions create a lot of anxiety in kids, because they know their behavior is different and strange, yet they can’t stop.

OCD kids have a hard time adjusting to a traditional school environment. The compulsions make it impossible for the child to maintain full focus, which makes it very hard for them to follow what is being said in the classroom and complete their schoolwork on time. Worries about cleanliness and organization make it extremely difficult to play with other children. In addition, kids often ridicule OCD children because they find them “weird.” Thus, the anxiety of going to school and facing challenging situations (mess, dirt) and the other children is added to the anxiety brought on by the obsession.

While some parents choose to treat OCD kids with medication, others worry about side effects and want to find a way to empower their child to manage their condition without relying on medication. With all the challenges facing these children in the traditional school system, special needs homeschooling often becomes the best choice.

OCD doesn’t go very well with the traditional schooling’s structure – the need to get up early, be on time, do homework every afternoon and go to bed on time are very stressful for OCD kids, who typically need lots of time and patience.

Homeschooling the OCD child provides relief from the impossibly (to them) rigid schedule of the traditional school system and from the anxiety and stress of dealing with the disorder at school. A homeschooling schedule can be flexible and can be worked around the child’s needs while allowing them to gradually learn to manage and control their disorder. In fact, in many cases, as soon as the pressure of traditional schooling is taken off, levels of anxiety dramatically decrease.

Having a gifted child is certainly a blessing, but it is also challenging. Gifted children are demanding. They crave lots of stimulation and are easily bored. It is a real struggle to keep them challenged, since they learn and grasp new concepts so quickly.

Generally speaking, traditional schools are not doing a very good job when it comes to keeping gifted children engaged. The passive, teacher-led atmosphere and the relatively slow pace, designed to accommodate the average students, are very hard on gifted students and are often causing them to rebel and to be labeled as problem students. This really isn’t fair, because if the same student had received proper stimulation, she would have been labeled as an exemplary student.

Online homeschooling in general, and 3D online homeschooling in particular, are an excellent learning method for gifted students. Homeschooling can be adjusted to the needs of the specific students and allows students to work at their own pace, which solves the issue of boredom.

3D online homeschooling is especially suited for gifted children. WiloStar3D’s learning methodology is based on the theory of Constructivist Learning, a learning theory which encourages and accepts student autonomy and initiative. Under this theory, students construct meaning by doing. They are never expected to be passive learners – on the contrary, they are encouraged to be active, creative and to interact with other students.

3D immersive education enables students to take responsibility for their own learning and become problem solvers and, perhaps more importantly, problem finders. This is a great way to channel gifted students’ natural curiosity and their constant need for new challenges.