Homeschooling for Aspies

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Does anyone know if homeschooling was an option in the mid 60's-late 70's? When you read my story, I believe you will agree that homeschooling would have been my best option--but only if my parents had had the patience.

I went to public school from 1965-1977. I was bullied all the way through school. My school years were pure hell. Kids made fun of me, pushed me around, stole my books, and called me ret*d. At graduation, though, I evened the score by graduating in the top 5 of my class magna cum laude. I still have no desire to see my classmates because, unlike other kids, I did not form any lasting friendships. I was never part of a group--I never fit in anywhere and today I still don't belong.

My teachers told my parents during my elementary years that I had some serious issues, but nothing was done. Instead of trying to help me, my parents would scold me about them getting called to the school constantly, and they would ask me why couldn't I be like the other kids so they wouldn't pick on me. That was totally beside the point--I was different and I couldn't help it. When I was in the fifth grade, the school sent me to a psychologist who in turn sent me to a neurologist in Atlanta. Instead of this being a day off and a fun time, my parents ranted and raved about losing time from work and how it was all my fault. They kept bringing it up for a long time afterward saying there was nothing wrong with me and I had cost them unnecessary money. The truth was, something was wrong but they did not know what. They did not do an EEG, which, I later found out, was supposed to have been done. The neurologist told my parents that I was just "odd" (a primitive term for Asperger's, 1970) and they would just have to live with it. A few weeks later, I was expelled from my elementary school for disruptive behavior and had to finish the year at a different school. From there, things just went downhill. My grades plummeted because I wasn't trying, I would fly into rages at home and try to harm myself so I wouldn't have to go back to that school. I was hoping that I could be put in a hospital for a while. Not surprisingly, nothing was done.

I had no close friends, so I couldn't talk to anyone because no one understood. I believe the counselors, staff, and teachers knew that I was different, but did not know what to do since I was an honor student. Surely something could have been done, like social skills training, or putting me in a special school.

Other than homeschooling and special ed, do you know of anything else that could have been done? I would really like some ideas.

In my home state I believe (but could be wrong) that it was only an option, back them if the parent had at least a Master's degree. I don't know if you needed a teacher's cert also, but I am pretty sure about the Master's Degree.

If you are in the U.S it is/was regulated on a state-by-state basis.

I don't know what the rules were in Georgia, but rules were much stricter then, as a general rule.

Are you trying to figure out if you should be mad at them for not home schooling you?

Edited to add the rest:

If they had to work and were mad about missing one day off to take you to the doctor, they would probably have not had been financially able to have one parent forgo work to home school you.

I don't think back then there were a lot of options. I am a bit younger than you, and when there were not any real options for kids who were 'different" back then. I don't think schools had a whole lot of services and I don't know what was available private pay and what insurance would have covered.

I was not diagnosed, and had a pretty ****** time with the social aspect and other kids. I would have loved not having to be there, but I try not to think about it too often. Sometimes, when my son was in public school, things would happen that reminded me of my childhood and it made me especially sad for him b/c of the parallels.

It's unlikely that you could have been diagnosed by anyone as a child, given your stated age. Autism used to be considered a rare condition, and was only diagnosed in non-verbal or otherwise severe cases. It wasn't until the late 1980s and the movie "Rainman" that most people even heard of it. So that part, at least, you can't blame on your parents.

I was probably diagnosed with autism in the early-mid 1960s. I was nonverbal at the time. I, apparently, exhibited typical Kanner-type symptoms. After I started speaking in 1966, I would not have been diagnosed with autism based upon my symptoms. Instead, it was thought (though not officially) that I had "brain-injury," and that I was a "brain-injured" child. I attended a "brain-injured" nursery school.

In the first grade, I attended a special program in a New York City public school. There are children with all kinds of disabilities in my classroom. There was a even a deaf kid who used to tease me.

I attended a school for emotionally-disturbed kids from 2nd through 5th grade. There were actually no grades. The curriculum was normal for its time, I believe. We sat in seats, the teacher wrote on the board, we had homework. If I acted up, I was thrown out of the class and sat down in the hall until I calmed down.

I attended "regular school," with okay academic and awful social results from 6th to 8th grade.

In high school, I attended a private school for "gifted underachievers," from which I graduated.

Autism did exist then; there was even a commercial about it sometime in the early 1970s. It showed a stimming child playing a piano, I believe. The voiceover mentioned "autistic children." I thought they were saying "artistic" at the time. Of course, autism was merely Kanner-type autism, known as either "infantile autism" or "childhood autism."

I would also put what is now known as "childhood disintegration disorder" in the category of autism as it stood in the 1970s--since I read many case studies of children who were explicitly called "autistic children," within which skills like speech were said to have been acquired by 18 months, but were lost six months to a year later. The child would be referred to a psychologist, who would usually diagnose "infantile autism."

I doubt it that I could have been homeschooled in my childhood (until 1979, when I turned 18). I don't think New York State had provisions for it. A kid had to go to school, or else the house would be visited by truant officers.

Cooler8625 you are my clone, including the childhood time frame! Back then only people who lived out in the middle of nowhere or who were too sick to attend school, were home schooled, so there was no home schooling for me. I would have loved it, and benefited from it. As for people on the Autism/Asperger's spectrum, very few people, including very few doctors, had any clue about it's existence. They didn't know what was wrong with me. I was diagnosed with social problems, and discipline problems. The other kids would bully me, including sometimes hitting or shoving me, I would melt down from all the mistreatment, and the stress, but I was the "bad" one, for melting down. The instigators were never really blamed for their behavior.

As for special schools, been there, done that, didn't help. I spent 4 years at one, and had to deal with the same problems from the other kids there, too, so there was no escape from that kind of trouble. I was also bullied by neighbor kids, and my own siblings, so my childhood was hell. During the last year at the special school I went there part of the day, and spent part of the day at a regular school, as my parents wanted me back in regular school. The special school didn't have regular grade levels. They just taught the kids as the kids were able to learn. I lost a grade level there, which bothered my parents, which is why they pushed to have me mainstreamed again.

I have a number of spectrum issues, including but not limited to, minor sound sensitivity, skin sensitivity, brain processing problems with sound and time, social issues, minor motor skills problems, and Executive Function Disorder. Those are just the main problems.

Unfortunately, there is no magic way of fixing the past, or fixing us old timer Spectrumers. We just have to develop and use what coping methods we can find.

Yes, I do have some resentment over not being home schooled, but that just wasn't an option back then, so my parents can't be blamed for not being able to help me more, when even the doctors were clueless.

I have much stronger resentment for the kids who tormented me back then. Over time however, I have come to see that bad people usually eventually bring bad things on themselves because of the bad choices they make in life, so in essence these creeps have by now suffered from their own bad choices. For those who outgrew their evil ways, and those who reformed, I forgive them. I am always in favor of bad people reforming into good people.

For those of us who went through hell way back when, I can't fix the past, but I offer a verbal hug. I know that's not much, but I can also offer some advice. Try not to dwell too much on the bad parts of your life. Find things to do to occupy your mind and hands. Keeping occupied really does help, so if you have been wallowing in mental pain, you really need to find more stuff to do.

- Read
- Watch TV/movies
- Get some moderate exercise
- Eat healthier
- Get plenty of rest
- Take courses, either in person or online
- If unemployed, get a job, or start a business
- Do volunteer work
- Go to parks/museums/ and other places of interest
- Take up hobbies/crafts
- Get involved with local worship groups, if you belong to a religion
- Get involved in local theater groups
- Get involved in politics
- Get involved in other local activities and events

There are plenty of ways to keep occupied. Please try some of them, as they really do help. This helps me.