QUESTION: “My five-year-old son has autism. As much as I want to, I can’t send him to a special school because it’s so expensive. How important is it for him to go to a SpEd school? Can I just train him at home? If not, where can I find a SpEd school that is not so expensive? Thanks.”

Teacher Genevieve says:

The formative years from infancy to about seven years old are the most important years in the life of a child, most especially for a child who runs the risk of being developmentally-delayed.

This period is termed as the “window of opportunity” when most learning that would build the foundation for future skills in the different developmental areas occurs at a rate that is fastest than at any other time in a child’s life.

Thus, parents and teachers should take advantage of the brain’s ability to learn motor, language, psychosocial and cognitive skills during the period from zero to seven with a sense of urgency, knowing that a child’s progress in learning would naturally slow down past this critical developmental period.

SPECIAL EDUCATION IN THE EARLY YEARS

Children with autism would most likely manifest language and cognitive deficits, atypical behaviors and play skills that would affect their ability to learn in the usual way that majority of children learn. This is the reason why most children with autism would need to undergo early intervention in the form of occupational and speech therapy, and special education. These are specialized forms of intervention delivered by trained professionals that are not found in the set-up of most regular schools.

For very young children with autism, special schools provide the needed learning environment characterized by smaller class sizes that would maximize individualization of learning goals and activities, and structured teaching that has been found to be an effective strategy for beginning learners with autism.

However, because running a special school entails higher operational costs primarily as a result of lower student enrollment than regular schools and relatively higher professional fees and teachers’ salaries, private special schools tend to charge higher tuition fees in order to sustain their operations.

Unfortunately, this poses an added burden to families who have yet to deal emotionally and physically with their child’s special condition, but now have to deal with the high cost of therapy and education.

Several years ago, the Department of Education (DepED) has institutionalized setting up SPED Centers in various public schools along with teacher training programs that would benefit our special learners. You can inquire with the public school nearest your place if they have a SpEd Center or if they could refer you to a Silahis Center that has programs suited to your son’s age and condition. Enrolling your son in a public school which has a SpEd Center can make special education accessible to you without straining your family’s finances.

HOMESCHOOLING AS AN OPTION

In recent years, an increasing number of families of children with special needs have opted to homeschool their children. For children with disabilities, out of exasperation, some parents have resorted to homeschooling upon realizing that traditional schooling does not fit the unique learning needs of their children.

However, most educators and even homeschool advocates would agree that homeschooling is not for every family considering the necessary commitment and capability of parents to be the primary teachers of their children, and the individual differences of children who would vary in terms of the educational environment wherein they would thrive best.

If you decide to homeschool your son with autism, you should try to find other homeschool parents and DepED-accredited institutions that offer homeschool programs. You should prepare to learn the what, why & how of teaching that would include learning the basics of curriculum design, important learning theories, and creative teaching strategies to ensure the quality of instruction that your child would receive in the comfort of your own home.

Homeschooling has many benefits among which would be its being cost-effective, maximizing instruction time that is made meaningful thru in-depth exploration of subjects that is not possible in most traditional school settings, the child learning at his own pace, and the opportunity for you to play an active role in your son’s education spending both quality and quantity time with him.

This would, however, involve some sacrifices. You have to set aside time during the day dedicated solely to teaching your son since his education now becomes a priority on top of your other household responsibilities. You have to simulate a classroom environment in your home that is conducive to learning and invest in instructional materials that would aid you in implementing the prescribed curriculum. Most importantly, you have to be emotionally prepared to commit yourself to being your child’s teacher. You have to maintain your objectivity when difficult behaviors arise, and focus on achieving your educational goals in spite of the issues you may encounter being both his mother and his teacher, each with its own set of challenges.

YOUR CHILD’S FIRST TEACHER

Whether you enroll your child in a private or public school, or decide to homeschool him, you remain to be your child’s fist teacher. Before he even learned to walk or speak, you have taught him all the prerequisite skills necessary to achieve these milestones. And when he starts undergoing formal schooling, you have to continue playing an active role in his education, not relying solely on the school to teach him, but being the first in teaching him what you believe he needs to know in the best way he learns.

The cost of education may be steep considering the economic crisis that most families are going through. But you could always be assured that your son will never miss out on learning what he needs to know as long as you are around to teach him. More than any other teacher, you will always be his first.

The author is the executive director of ALRES-PHILS. and the chairperson of the SPED Department of Miriam College. A pediatric physiotherapist and special educator, she is currently pursuing her doctorate studies majoring in Special Education at U.P. Diliman. She is a staunch advocate for children with special needs.If you have any questions, please feel free to ask our SPED specialists. Just send your queries to youth@mb.com.ph