It gets worse with every IEP meeting.
Your child keeps falling further and further behind. You're desperate and willing to try anything, because your child deserves better.
But what's the answer, homeschool? You, a parent with no education background, teaching your nonspeaking autistic student?
It seems impossible.
It's not.
Welcome to Nonverbal Autism Homeschool!
In just 2-3 hours a day, you can teach your child to read, communicate and develop a love of learning.
Here's why I created Nonverbal Autism Homeschool
Nonverbal Autism Homeschool includes these three course modules:
Reading
You'll receive our proven reading system, which has taught more than 1,000 special needs kids how to read. Each weekly curriculum bundle includes lessons in phonics, vocabulary, sentence building, sight words and reading comprehension curriculum tailored for nonverbal students.
You'll also receive instructional videos that show you exactly how to teach your nonverbal student.
AAC
This is the only program that teaches parents how to model Proloquo2Go! Learn how to format, customize and navigate the app while teaching your student core vocabulary words to support academic learning, and how to navigate the app to find meaningful words that encourage communication.
Math and other subjects
Nonverbal Autism Homeschool Complete also includes hands-on math activities and games that teach counting, place value, adding and subtracting, measurements and geometry. In addition, you'll receive age appropriate curriculum in science, social studies and art that respects your student's intellect and makes learning fun.
Katherine W.
The very first week I saw a complete change. My son was interested, challenged and having fun. We finished the Spring semester and are finishing the Summer School program, too. He asks me to do it every day, and he is using what he learns elsewhere.
How does it work?
We provide curriculum that meets national educational standards. Our games, task boxes, puzzles, worksheets, and activities are carefully selected because they can be easily adapted to meet the need of our students.
Purchase one semester's worth of curriculum at a time, and go at your own pace. Materials are organized into daily lessons, eliminating the need for time-consuming lesson planning.
Each week, log on and watch approximately 15 minutes of instructional videos that review every piece of curriculum you'll be using. You'll know exactly how to present the materials to your student to ensure success.
Then, download printable PDFs and start teaching. That's all there is to it!
Still worried you can't succeed? You'll also have access to live and on-demand video Q&A sessions with an experienced special education teacher.
Nonverbal Autism Homeschool gives you exactly what you need: organized, proven curriculum, instructional videos and live support.
Enrollment is always open.
No speaking, writing or tabletop skills required to begin.
All ages are welcome! Our students range from age 5 to 30.
WITH THIS MUCH SUPPORT, YOU WILL GET RESULTS!
Begin anytime!
Nonverbal Autism Homeschool is designed to go at your own pace, which means you can start now. Don't force your student to suffer through the rest of the semester in a dangerous classroom environment or with an online program that isn't a good fit. Make that change today!
Not ready to "meet" me yet?
If Zoom isn't your jam, take a video tour instead. Fill out the form and you'll be automatically redirected to the video, plus I'll send a follow up email so you can watch it later, on demand.
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You can do this!
You're already more than qualified to teach your child.
You were their very first teacher and you're going to continue to guide them their entire lives. Nobody knows them as well as you do. You know their special interests. You know when to push and when they're finished. You know when they're being sneaky. You know extremely important things that can make or break any educational attempt regardless of background.
With Nonverbal Autism Homeschool, you'll have the right curriculum, a library of instructional videos and schedule that guides you day by day.
Our parent-teachers are encouraged to attend twice-weekly live Q&A sessions with Ken Sims, a special education teacher who has taught more than 1,000 special needs kids how to read and learn math. No matter what difficulties you're having with your student, after 30 years teaching special needs students, he's seen it all and he has the answer.
And, you'll receive support a mom who has been there! Heather Anderson, creator of Nonverbal Autism Homeschool, is always available to answer AAC modeling questions, give homeschooling advice, answer tech questions, recommend toys, apps and support products, and even provide a shoulder to cry on if you need it.
This will work even if your child already has a full therapy schedule.
In fact, I recommend including all of your service providers in this program. Additional logins are available for your therapists so they can access weekly lessons. Many of our AAC materials are made for SLPs by SLPs, and can be used in their sessions, too.
This will work even if your child hasn't shown much interest in AAC before.
Our AAC activities are fun and inviting, and most don't require sitting still. Even when we use AAC while we read books, we find ways to make it silly.
"An average parent, who will dedicate a couple of hours per day to their student, can achieve so much more than I can all day long in a group classroom."
- Ken Sims, MA Special Education
Emily K.
I like how there are always options to use a pencil, type, use his talker or just point. Whether he's having a great day or a challenging one, we can always get some school done.
Looking for a complete homeschool program without AAC?
Combine Nonverbal Autism Homeschool's Reading and Math+ modules for a complete semester.
Meet the creators
Heather Anderson
Heather Anderson is a former journalist and creator of The Autism Oasis, a source of information and support to autism families. When she enrolled her nonverbal autistic son in a homeschool program, Mr. Sims was assigned as her son's supervising teacher. Together with the cooperation service providers, they taught him how to read, communicate expressively and enjoy learning.
Ken Sims, MA Special Education
Mr. Sims has been a special education teacher for 30 years. During that time, he has taught more than 1,000 special needs kids to read, and helped many of them continue on to earn high school diplomas. He is a full time special education teacher in Southern California, and is currently credentialed to teach K-12 special education and K-6 general education.
Literacy is a human right
According to CDC estimates, there are nearly 1 million people in the U.S. alone with severe, nonverbal autism. Sadly, many of them are functionally illiterate despite having normal or gifted intelligence.
Most public schools are not structured to teach nonverbal children to read, communicate and reach their academic potential. The reasons for this include:
- Group classrooms are overstimulating and make it difficult for autistic students to focus and sit still, skills that are required in school. However, schools don't have room or funding for 1:1, low sensory learning environments.
- Intelligence tests rely on expressive language to produce answers. This discriminates against students with expressive communication disabilities and produces false intellectual disability diagnoses.
- Expressive communication is required to prove academic mastery in school, and mastery in the form of testing is required to move forward academically. This forces kids with expressive communication disabilities to spend years stuck with age inappropriate curriculum.
- Parents lack the training to model AAC use at home. Many aren't even aware that they need to model.
We believe that every child, regardless of expressive or cognitive ability, can learn. Nearly all can learn to read and communicate.
Yes, education reform is needed. But by the time that happens, it will be too late for your student.
I know this system works: I used it to teach my son how to read!
My son, Tosh, is 11 years old and has nonverbal autism. Five years ago, we met Mr. Sims when he was assigned to be Tosh's homeschool EF by our charter school.
At the time, Tosh couldn't demonstrate the ability to count beyond 7, he couldn't read, and he could barely write his name. He became agitated when asked to do any school work and couldn't attend to a task or listen to a teacher for more than a couple of minutes.
Under the direction of Mr. Sims, Tosh has made unbelievable progress. He is now reading at a third grade level and can complete double-digit math problems with regrouping Even though he requires significant accommodations, he can complete sixth grade science, social studies, literature, art and PE assignments.
The image you see is a screen shot from Tosh's iPad, demonstrating one way we used AAC to learn grade-level vocabulary words and context.
My son is not a genius. He's bright, but he also has severe physical, behavioral and learning challenges. I had zero teaching experience. But with Mr. Sims' help, we did it. And so can you!
Mr. Sims and I are very passionate about the rights of nonspeaking autistic people. We are honored to present this program and can't wait to change the lives of kids like Tosh.
- Heather Anderson, Creator
Nonverbal Autism Homeschool
FAQs
Are you a charter school?
Can I share this program with our speech therapist?
Can I just hire Mr. Sims to teach my student??
What if my student can't keep up with the weekly curriculum?
Cayla L.
We are loving this homeschool journey. He has completed more work in these few months than we ever saw evidence of in public school. We are so proud!
