ANNOUNCING!
Homeschool Iowa is thrilled to announce our newest service: Special Needs Advisors.
These amazing women have years of combined experience homeschooling children with special needs.
They've graciously agreed to serve as advisors and encouragers to other parents who are homeschooling children with special learning challenges.
Our Homeschool Iowa Special Needs Advisors can be accessed by any current Homeschool Iowa member.
Meet Our Special Needs Advisors
Kim
ABOUT KIM:
Kim has been married for over 30 years and has two children who have both graduated.
Even so, Kim notes that, for a special needs mom, the learning never ends!
She has encouraged both homeschool and public school special needs moms for many years.
Homeschool Iowa has benefitted as well from Kim's expert assistance with special needs projects and programming.
Kim also has experience serving as a parent partner for the AEA, going with families to IEP meetings as an advocate.
KIM'S EXPERIENCE AREAS:
- Physical Disabilities
- Intellectual Disabilities
- Cerebral Palsy
- Sensory Processing Disorder
- Auditory Processing Disorder
- ADHD
- Autism Spectrum
- Accessibility Issues
- Special Needs Adoption
- Anxiety
ERIN
ABOUT ERIN:
Erin brings a wealth of experience to her service as a Special Needs Advisor.
She is a longtime homeschooling mother of five, a homeschool supervising teacher, and a past homeschool support group leader.
Three of Erin's five children had special learning needs.
She is familiar with IEPs and both private and public school services for meeting special needs.
ERIN'S EXPERIENCE AREAS:
- Autism
- Auditory Processing
- Nonverbal Learning Disorder
- Speech Therapy
Please note that our Advisors are happy to assist you with your questions about homeschooling special needs children, but they are not able to provide diagnostic advice or design IEPs.
Access to our Homeschool Iowa Special Needs Advisors is just one of the many benefits of Homeschool Iowa membership.
Are you a Homeschool Iowa supporting member?
4 Comments on “Meet Our Special Needs Advisors”
Hallelujah! I have been waiting for NICHE to provide this free but valuable resource to families. You have given me new hope.
As a mama of soon-to-be nine kiddos, and six of them being special needs and varying levels of functioning and abilities, this is a MUCH needed resource in Iowa! Special needs families are greatly under-served in Iowa across the board and so many families want to homeschool their special needs child/ren but don’t take the leap because they are too scared to “do it wrong”. I’m so glad this is a resource being offered now!
If I want to leave the school system and do not want to use the AEA services from school. How do I get my special needs child the help he needs? He already does speech privately 1 day a week but needs more but where he goes doesn’t have the resources to offer more.
Do I have options or do I have to go through Grant Wood AEA? We are un the Cedar Rapids Community School District.
Hi, Molly!
You have a number of options.
As you mentioned, public school special education services are available through dual enrollment. This includes AEA services for special needs. However, in order to access public school special education services, you must file a CPI Form A with the request marked on the back — and you must either arrange for a licensed teacher to regularly supervise your homeschooling efforts or you must submit adequate annual assessment results at the end of the school year. Further, you must obtain approval from the AEA director of special education services to homeschool a child receiving special education services through the public school system.
If you want to homeschool and provide for your child’s special needs privately, you can use one of the non-reporting homeschool options, which do not require all of the steps listed above. However, it will take some investigation on your part to find sources for the help your child needs.
You’ll find more information on our website page, Homeschooling Special Needs. Make sure to check the link for SPED near the bottom of the page.
Our Special Needs Advisors are available to assist our current members, too.