Hello everyone, I thought I would post an update on this.
My son is now 6y7m and homeschooling is by far the best thing for him. We're all so happy and he is doing so well
I can't even believe I was considering school for him, for the 'social' aspect, heh!
I worked out a long time ago that we needed to take a very cautious baby steps approach to his level of comfort and ability to cope in social situations. last year we worked on playdates with one other child, then two children, etc. His level of social interaction last year was minimal, simply because we don't know many other children his age and I could see he needed extra attention with play/interaction skills. I decided it was best to build these foundations slowly then provide the gentle exposure so he could apply what he learnt.
I was also introduced to Social Thinking (
www.socialthinking.com) which IMHO is the best approach to assisting high functioning kids with social difficulties. It has been fantastic for my little boy.
I never found the kind of school I was looking for which I know now should be a school for exceptionally gifted kids with learning difficulties, ASD etc. Basically, a 2E school where Aspie kids are catered to. If I win the lottery I'll set up my own
This year we have more interaction as we've joined a homeschool group and have a few more friends. Academics-wise, my son is in first grade (grade 1 in Australia) and has been assessed at mid 7th grade for reading (comprehension is good but because of his ASD, understanding a character and their perspectives is a little diffcult, we are tackling this with Social Thinking concepts). He is upper primary/elementary elementary for maths and what he doesn't know he picks up very quickly. There is no way any school would provide that level for him, not in first grade (teachers have confirmed this for me). He is also learning high school science topics in greater detail and is loving it.
Forgive the brag, I'm just so proud of how far he has come. I've read over some concerns I had about him a year and two years ago and can't even remember those things, which of course is a good thing
