How many children with AS are home educated in Britain?

Are figures published anywhere for the number of children with AS in Britain who are home educated?

No reliable figures exist for the number of children who are home educated because there is no requirement to register home educated children anywhere. Estimates for the total number of home educated children range from 50,000 to 300,000 depending on whichever source you use.

I would love to know how many home educated children have AS, and more importantly, how many were withdrawn from school because of bullying and failure to meet educational needs. I guess the number is quite low judging from my findings. Very few of the children I have encountered at several AS support groups I have visited are home educated. Almost all of them attend state schools with a small handful attending SEN schools. AS support groups have been unable to provide much help and information about home education, and parents constantly talk about schools and school problems.

My verdict is that the decision to home educate or send to school is influenced more by the parents than the children regardless of how well the children are suited to school or whatever SEN they have.

I can second this. I haven't had much luck in finding home educated children with AS or parents seriously considering home education. Visit any of the big UK centric AS forums for parents and there are countless discussions about problems with schools but rarely more than ten home educating parents at any one time.



There is probably much truth to this statement. Sometimes the parents lack confidence in themselves that they don't have the academic ability to teach their children, or fear that the education they received is out of date, but in other cases it all boils down to attitudes and prejudices.

Some councils keep figures for the number of home educated children who have SEN. This could possibly be revealed under the Freedom of Information Act. I make an intelligent guess that nearly 99% of home educated children with AS attended school at one time.

This is more of a general home education issue rather than one specific to Asperger syndrome but there is probably truth to it. Another problem is the scarcity of information about HE children with AS. Do an internet search and you will find there isn't all that much out there. I have the book Home Educating our Autistic Spectrum Children by Terri Dowty & Kitt Cowlishaw. The stories vary in quality and relevance to our situation but I'm of the opinion that they are just a few examples and far from completely representative of all HE children with AS and HFA.

Many parents of children with AS simply have no idea where to start or how to meet their child's SEN whilst simultaneously providing them with an education that meets their AA&A which they enjoy and want to participate in. The support I have received from the mainstream HE community is chequered to say the least. Knowledge and understanding of AS or the reasons I am HE my son are not always well appreciated or understood.

Another possible reason for the reluctance of parents to consider HE children with AS is because a high proportion of them are good at science and their parents feel that they will miss out on lab facilities and practical work if they don't go to school. I don't think it is possible to get a science GCSE unless the student completes the coursework and the assessed practical labwork. My own findings are that HE children are overwhelmingly more creative than scientific and I have only encountered a handful who have any desire to obtain a science GCSE or go on to a scientific career. I'm not saying they don't study science. They just don't treat it as one of their high priority subjects.

I have experienced similar problems myself. When I first started HE my son I made an effort to get in contact with other HE parents who lived locally. A high proportion of them could be best described as well to do libertarians who didn't believe in government run schools with a government dictated curriculum. There were many reasons why they didn't send their children to private schools although I suspect that many of the parents could have afforded the fees. I felt that I was on a completely different planet to these people. Most of them looked down on me as a lower middle class parent on income support who didn't share libertarian viewpoints such as taxation is theft and people should stand on their own two feet in order to survive financially rather than expect to live off benefits. HE families from lower middle class or less well off families were few and far between and so were children who were HE because of bullying or failure to meet SEN.



I will make further enquiries about this in the AS community.



You could be right about the science GCSE requiring coursework that is difficult to do without the right lab equipment although I haven't confirmed this. At least one exam board now offers a double science IGCSE in addition to separate IGCSEs in physics, chemistry, and biology. IGCSEs are GCSEs that are all examination with no coursework.

The secondary school I attended offered separate GCSEs in physics, chemistry, and biology from the Midland Examination Group, or MEG. Each of these GCSEs had a coursework component which were assessed practicals. The assessed practicals required certain pieces of lab equipment and chemicals.

The activity level of this forum is still on the sluggish side even after one year of operation. Are there a sufficient number of HE families who have children with AS to create a dynamic and active forum? I was thinking recently whether this forum would benefit from proactive marketing rather than relying on google.

You're not far off course. I was expecting around 100 members and a higher level of activity after one year of operation.



There is also the question whether these families feel that the existing HE and AS infrastructure sufficiently caters for their needs although my observations tell me that your question is the better one. The exact number of children with AS who are home educated in Britain remains one of the nation's best hidden secrets.



The problem with this is where do you advertise or promote this forum? I have mentioned this forum on a few HE Facebook groups and mailing lists. Other members have contacted HE parents on AS forums. There's also been word of mouth advertising within AS circles. I personally know two HE families with children with AS who are on the wrong side of the digital divide.

I'm reluctant to pay for advertising unless I know it is likely to succeed because I have known more than one person who has paid a lot of money but it achieved little. Viral marketing is something I know little about. There has been some talk of creating a page on Facebook and Twitter although I don't do social networking.

Record number of kids being taught at home

Lincolnshire Echo, 30th May 2009

The number of Lincolnshire children being educated at home has more than quadrupled since 2002, new figures have revealed.

Improvements in access to the internet at home are seen as one of the main factors behind the trend.

Data released by Lincolnshire County Council shows that 417 youngsters are currently being taught at home.

The leap of more than 460 per cent since 2002 – when just 89 children received a home education – is seen by education chiefs as part of an increasing national trend.

But the exact reasons for the change have proved difficult for experts to pinpoint.

Access to educational resources on the internet is seen as one key factor.

Bad experiences at school is another, while greater awareness of the options open to parents is also an issue.

Legally, a child is not obliged to go to school, although they must receive an education somewhere.

Chris Rogers, a violin teacher, and wife Susanna Matthan have been teaching daughter Asha Matthan-Rogers (11) since infancy.

And Mr Rogers, from Billinghay, said he thought the trend towards home-schooling would continue in the future.

"The route most go down is to send their children to school and devolve most or all responsibility to the school," he said.

"But many parents become cut off from children, particularly at secondary school.

"A child flourishes more when a parent is involved in their education."

The home schooling figures were released to the Echo under the Freedom of Information Act.

The totals have risen by eight per cent in the last two years – and council officials believe they are likely to keep increasing.

For more on the number of children being home-schooled, see Saturday's Echo.

Big rise in home-schooling

Sheffield Telegraph, 28th May 2009

MORE Sheffield children are being taken out of school and taught at home than ever before – with numbers having tripled over the last 12 years.
Over 170 youngsters in 118 families are currently being home educated in the city, compared with just 50 in 1996, according to a report to councillors. The actual figure may be higher, as parents have no legal obligation to tell the local authority they have taken their children out of conventional schooling.

But as relationships between the council and the home educating community are good, the authority believes the vast majority of children are known about.

Officers make home visits at least once a year to ensure such youngsters are being effectively educated, although there is no requirement for parents to follow the National Curriculum.

Most home-educated children have been taken out of local authority schools – of the current batch, 141 have at some time been at a primary or secondary.

The most common time for a child to drop out of conventional education is when they have finished at primary school, the report says.

Some parents feel the change between a small family-oriented primary school and a large secondary is too big a difference.

Families who have not been given a place at a secondary of their choice may also withdraw their child from the system.

Sometimes pupils return to school when they are 14 to ensure they have access to GCSE coursework and qualifications.

Children being taught at home are often educated in a very different way to a conventional school, with a broader subject base and youngsters being encouraged to choose areas that interest them.

Some parents let their child follow their interests entirely, encouraging independent learning usually involving the extensive use of IT.

The report says a full review of home education is currently being carried out nationally, with a result that Sheffield will amend its guidelines to follow any new guidance and legislation.

I estimate that about 1% of the total HE population has AS or HFA and nearly all of them were withdrawn from school. It's likely that a small number of EHE kids have AS that hasn't been recognised or is considered to be eccentric traits by their parents.



I used to sell an electronics kit for HE kids but discontinued it because of low sales. In the future I'm planning on creating a new electronics kit based around a microcontroller.