If you decide to home-school your child who is neurodivergent then you may decide to get an IDP written so that you have something to work from. It can also help if you eventually decide to send them to a mainstream/special/independent school. You can give copies to the school and local authority so that they can use the information to fill in their own IDP but you must insist that they do so and you must ask for a copy of their IDP once they have completed it so that you can verify they have added all the things you wanted included.
I know this is time-consuming but it’s all about preparation when you have a neurodivergent child. You prepare to win you don’t prepare to fail.
What should your IDP include?
Full name:
Likes to be known as:
Date of birth:
Gender :
Current education setting(s): at home if Educated Out of School
Home address:
Name of parents:
Email :
Parents’ telephone number(s):
Communication requirements and preferences:
Of the child, young person or parent: This is where you note the preferred
language of communication (Welsh or English or Makaton or other)
Parent/ Professional responsible for maintaining the IDP:
(ensuring the IDP is kept up to date )
Proposed review date of IDP:
Medical History : (this will include whether your child was premature/ had birth issues/delayed speech etc)
Education History : ( this will include any private nurseries /day care etc)
Social skills :
Cognition:
Sensory Profile:
Physical Profile:
As a parent what are your nightmares for your child:
What are your dreams for your child:
What action plans are needed to meet the dreams and avoid the nightmare:
What are your child’s strengths and talents:
What are your child’s challenges:
What are your child’s likes:
What are your child’s dislikes :
Preferred play:
Important people to your child:
Assessment: Here I would recommend Bsquared for homeschooling assessment. It is an assessment tool used by many schools and they will give you a much reduced price for using their assessment tool at home. The added advantage is that the assessment can be used by a school if you decide you no longer wish to home-educate.
Connecting Steps Assessment Software for Schools – B Squared
Once this IDP is completed you will have an idea of what next steps.
For one family that I have been working with lately, we went on to introduce the PECs system and Makaton signing, including the well-loved Mr Tumble. The child prefers a play approach to learning and it works well in conjunction with Bsquared which gives you education targets that can be achieved through a play approach.
The family are in the fortunate position of being able to afford their own private school in their grounds and we are currently advertising for a teaching assistant to follow the programme we devise.
As he is not of compulsory school age (5-16) they decided to exercise their right to educate their child at home from a very early stage, before he reaches compulsory school age. There are no requirements in that case as to the content of any home education provided – since there is no legal requirement for any education to take place at all, although state-funded places of between 15 and 30 hours a week would normally be available in early years settings for children of an appropriate age.
We have determined that he learns best in the morning (though it is a play approach -see DIR floortime for more information ). Therefore the TA will only be employed for 5 mornings a week as both parents have high pressured jobs.
Homeschooling for school age children
Children attending school normally have about five hours tuition a day for 190 days a year, spread over about 38 weeks. However, home education does not have to mirror this. In any case, in elective home education there is often almost continuous one-to-one contact and education may sometimes take place outside normal “school hours”. For more information on the law regarding homeschooling follow the link : Elective home education: guide for parents (publishing.service.gov.uk)
If you wish me to assess you child then please email me . Thank You.