QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER FOR EXEMPTION (LEARNING ISSUES)
When you are considering home schooling your child that has a learning disability/issue like dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, ADHD, autism or a language delay/disorder, it is really important to consider questions beyond those that are immediately obvious.
The deb has created a list of questions we believe will help you make those important choices around home schooling.
Dyslexia
- What approach was the school using to teach your child to read, write and spell? Was it working? The approach most NZ schools use is called balanced literacy and fails up to 60% of students so your child is not alone.
- Does your child know the 26 sounds of the alphabet and can they write the letters when they hear the sounds?
- What spelling patterns can your child read when they read words?
- What spelling patterns can your child spell when they write?
- Has your child been doing any writing at school or are the school books coming back empty?
- Does your child know how to write a paragraph, or understand sentence structure?
Dyscalculia – difficulty with math
- Does your child know their basic math facts ten (number bonds)?
- Do they understand place value?
- Do they mix 14 and 41 up?
- Do they know their times tables?
- Can they do multiplication and division?
- Do they understand fractions?
ADHD Autism and Behaviour
- Did the school consider this when allocating your child work? If they didn’t, is this why he is behind?
- Is the anxiety and behaviour coming out because there are underlying issues that were not addressed and being behind is the main issue?
- What approach did the school use to address anxiety and behaviour if any? Mindfulness, sensory box, Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) or Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA)
- Did it work? If not, what are you going to do differently and what approach will you use?
Language Delays or Language Disorder
- Do you know what the delays are?
- Can they comprehend a full children’s story book or chapter in a novel?
- Can they retell the story back in the correct sequence? First, second, third last or first, then, after, or at the end?
- Do they know the ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ in the story?
- Can they tell you what might happen next?
- Do they understand basic language concepts? Examples to consider:
- Under – Over
- Before – After
- Altogether
- In between
- Above – Below
- Less – Unless
- More
- Big, bigger, biggest
- Long, longer and longest
- Do they have a good understanding of vocabulary in speech and writing?
- Do they say words like ‘stuff’ and ‘things’ when describing something rather than saying, “I want the book from the shelf” they may say, “I want the thing on the shelf?”
Understanding language in speech is the foundation of learning reading, writing, spelling, math, science, history and geography – it’s crucial to learning for life.
Teachers are not trained or educated in these conditions unless they pay for training themselves. Before you employ a teacher, tutor or parent to educate your child on their home schooling journey, please make sure they are qualified and have done the training. Teaching in a classroom for years does not mean they can teach a dyslexic child. Remember, many of us home-school because our children didn’t get what they needed in school.
We have listed some programmes and curriculums the deb has recommended to parents whose children are behind or have a learning disability/difficulty. You find the lists under our Resource Hub under Curriculum choices for Parents.
It is a good idea to find out where your child’s gaps are. You can find free assessments for sound and letter knowledge, reading and spelling under our Resource Hub under Free Assessments.
The Ministry of Education also has a free Oral Language assessment online if needed.
This document was created by Sharon Scurr founder of the deb in December 2021