Welcome

Homeschooling a child with special needs can feel overwhelming, but you’re not alone. At Homeschool Special Ed, we provide expert support and personalized solutions to help your child succeed.

A Calling Revealed

Changing climate for Special Education

What we currently see as established special ed departments and services didn’t exist prior to 1975. That year Public Law 94-142 passed, The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA), established rights for individuals with special needs to be educated in public schools. Before that law was established, students were expected to stay home or in institutional (hospital) settings. Some families that Patty knew about were essentially home schooling, but the larger group were assuming that education was not possible or practical for the disabled and thus just cared for their physical needs at home.

Patty’s first experience in Special Ed

During this season of national change, a class of developmentally delayed students was initiated in Patty’s semi-private school. This was 1969 and one of the first classes of “special needs” students to appear in a school setting in that region. Patty was in the sixth grade and everybody in her class was in the rotation to serve with them.

This class also included students with physical limitations; one was deaf, another used a wheelchair, another could not control her saliva secretions, most had cognitive delays.

Patty discovers her love for special needs students

Patty enjoyed her time there so much she would forget to go back to her own class once she got into the room with these precious kids. At the end of the year, she was chosen to go with the class of disabled students to camp. The teacher of the special needs class, Mrs. Ross, stopped Patty’s parents after church one Sunday that year. She turned Patty around to face them with her hands on Patty’s shoulders and said, “You need to know that Patty has a gift from God to teach students with special needs. It is your responsibility to nurture this gift.” Patty has been volunteering or teaching people with disabilities in one context or another ever since.

Small Beginnings

In 1995, a fellow home educator friend asked her to help them with their developmentally delayed and autistic 12 year old daughter who was being demanded to go to the public schools. Patty was excited to serve them. The family worked with the Homeschool Legal Defense Association to figure out how to have Patty give them the individualized testing and documentation that allowed them to keep their daughter in the homeschool setting.

Learning the legal system

After that, Patty got in touch with the Oregon Department of Education to double check how to best support this and other students. In the 1990’s, schools frequently demanded students back to public school if they didn’t meet certain criteria. Patty advocated during the ’90’s with the people at the Oregon Department of Education, and the local Educational Service Districts on behalf of a number of these families. She communicated with them to make make these families voices & specific situations heard so that they were able to continue to educate their child at home. “If the family found me and we did our process, the child received permission to continue educating in the home setting.” Patty says. One summer when Patty was attending an OCEANetwork conference, Patty chatted with the man who was standing at the PEA-PAC (Parent Education Association – Political Action Committee) table. They agreed that the law which the PEA-PAC was promoting for the Oregon legislature at the time would not likely pass in it’s current form. “We will try again with a new draft though if this doesn’t go through.” he told her.

Patty asked, “Would you mind if I asked you to add something to the next version you are proposing?” He handed her a legal pad and she wrote a proposal that included allowing families to arrange for students’ special needs through private providers. She suggested a “PDP – Privately Developed Plan” to him that day. He took it back to the PEA-PAC advocacy group and later that became the law. That would not have happened had Hewitt Research not kept data showing that home educating families were doing a better job at landing students with high performance test scores, being highly successful in colleges and universities and in the professional world…

Who are America’s Best Educated Students?

Did you know that according to research, the number one indicator of student success in their educational pursuits is the level of commitment by their parents? This is true. Pubic schools have some committed parents. Private schools have many committed parents; obviously the parents are paying dearly out of pocket to make it happen. However, home educators are putting cash flow, time, talents, energy… They are giving the full level of commitment to their students’ education, so it is not surprising that they consistently have the strongest outcomes.

Patty has a track record of success!

Over the years, Patty has worked with thousands of families, many groups of school teachers, the IEP teams, the ESD authorities and sometimes other outside people to help families get the best possible educational opportunity for their situation.

In the 1990’s, the law and the mood toward home education were adversarial.

Both have changed in Oregon, so that the environment is much more open to all educational options and educational options have greatly expanded. Laws governing education will probably continue to change, but Patty will keep up with those details so that you can relax and teach your student – you get the fun part – living with, teaching and being with your child(ren)!  

Contact Patty today!

Homeschool Special Ed Consultant  

Patty McCarty, LLC

971-515-9760 

homeschoolspecialed.pm@gmail.com

The Homeschooler’s Success Coach

Releasing your child’s potential!

Supporting home educators since 1995!