Serious medical issues such as cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, cancer, or seizure disorders make it nearly impossible for the child to learn in a regular classroom. Part of it is the child’s own safety, part of it is social issues, and the underlying issue is that a traditional school generally cannot accommodate seriously ill children.

But the children who are facing these issues are often extremely bright and talented. As their parent, you want them to live life to the fullest despite medical setbacks, and this includes learning and developing and growing academically.

For these children, special needs homeschooling is an ideal solution. It gives the children and their parents the flexibility they need to learn at their own pace, when they are able to. The children are safe, and they can socialize in a supervised, appropriate setting rather than in a harsh classroom environment.

But a 3D virtual homeschooling system, such as the system offered by Wilostar3D, does even more than that. It frees the child from their physical limitations, not just in the sense that they don’t have to deal with going to a physical school, but also in the sense that they can immerse themselves in a wonderful, educational 3D world where they can create an avatar for themselves that is free of illness. Most disabled children find the ability to represent themselves as healthy incredibly liberating and inspiring.

When it comes to special needs students, homeschooling is often not just the best solution, but the only solution. Traditional schools simply lack the resources and the knowledge needed to make sure that special needs students get the attention they need to do well academically.

Special needs homeschooling works, becuase it can be easily adapted to each student’s special needs. Regardless of what the special need is – Aspergers, ADD, OCD or chronic illnesses, the one thing common to all special needs students is that they require a lot of flexibility, understanding and learning at their own pace while being removed from social pressures and stigma. A traditional school simply cannot give them that, and so we see students that are very bright and capable suffering academically and not reaching their full potential.

Special needs homeschooling in a fully accredited homeschooling program enables these bright, talented children to receive the best education, specifically tailored to their special needs and learning preferences. For many special needs students, a visual, creative, technology-based homeschooling program is perfect. We’ll discuss this in a future post.

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.

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.

Many parents find that homeschooling is an excellent choice for children who have been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD. Many of these parents turn to homeschooling as the last resort after trying several other options and helplessly watching their children slip into a downward spiral of academic and social failure.

The good news: most of these families never look back. Homeschooling works beautifully for special needs children, because unlike traditional schooling, it is highly flexible and is centered on the individual child. Rather than expecting your child to fit into a fairly rigid mold, you have the option of creating a program specifically for your child.

WiloStar3D’s virtual reality approach to online homeschooling is particularly good with ADD and ADHD students because it keeps them engaged and interested. Having a homeschooling program that looks and acts like a video game where students get to attend classes in a 3D campus is a huge motivation for these children to keep learning and stay focused.

Special needs homeschooling is a challenge in itself – especially keeping your child engaged. Using 3D virtual worlds for education is a huge help because it deals with the typical boredom that ADHD students experience when doing repetitive tasks and it also enables them to completely avoid a traditional classroom setting, which is very hard on them.

To learn more about how 3D online homeschooling can help your special needs child, please visit our website.