Hello,

My 8th grade daughter on the autism spectrum struggled with algebra and this past year struggled even more with geometry. We (and she) have decided she'd do well to re-cover and better master this material. For other ASD-related reasons, she's dropped to reduced school day so we will have her re-cover this material from home. (She does not want to homeschool 100%, so that's not an option). The issue is that she wasn't able to master the concepts between the classroom presentation and at home (in part because she won't or doesn't realize that she needs help). We would like to have her re-do algebra and geometry in preparation for high school math.

Can others recommend online program (which we might supplement with a tutor once or twice a week) that is well-suited for spectrum kids. Have others been in this situation?

Thank you very much, Link

I don't see any reason why she couldn't take them again, if she struggled with them. Algebra and Geometry are high school math for most kids, after all. I actually took Algebra twice in high school despite passing it the first time, because I didn't feel like I understood the "whys" of it.

DS11 (2e - ASD) took the second half of Algebra 1 last year with his e-school, and is taking Geometry this year as a full-time e-schooler, but it's a Colorado-specific online school, so I probably can't recommend it to you. But they do use some Khan Academy videos in their classes, so that might help. Other than that, I don't know about spectrum-related math classes.

Has she done Dragonbox? They are nice as a game-way to get across the concepts of algebra, and I heard they were putting out a geometry one as well. DS and DD both liked the algebra one.

Thanks. I'll look into Dragonbox. It'd be great if she could have fun with Dragonbox. Did you have your kids do the Dragonbox algebra before the state e-school algebra curricula? Wish DD would consider e-school for a year.

While I think the dragon box apps are great, I would mention they are not at all comprehensive. The original one focuses on teaching how to isolate a variable (which is an algebraic skill but only a small part of algebra) and the second walks you through a set of simple geometric proofs again a small piece of the subject.

Thank you both for your responses! One thing we're struggling with is trying to increase her interest/enthusiasm for math in general. She is currently very interested plants (genetics), engineering, chemistry, all of which require math. For ASD kids, one of the approaches is to draw them in to a subject through their interests. I'd of course love to find a retired engineer or someone like that to try to engage her in math. Do either of you know any online curricula that approach algebra or geometry through these or related subjects?