Homeschool Decision-Making and Evidence-Based Practice for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Homeschooling children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has increased in popularity and is an educational option considered by parents. Interviews were conducted with 9 parents homeschooling children with ASD to systematically characterize reasons parents provide for their decision to homeschool and the educational experiences parents are providing. Five distinct themes emerged regarding reasons parents decided to homeschool children with ASD. Parents began homeschooling at a mean grade of 4.33 and their decision to homeschool was characterized by a long-term process for 55.56% and following one catalyst event for 44.44%. Results suggest that parents are largely not implementing evidence-based practices or are utilizing methods that directly contradict best practice standards. The majority of homeschool programming described did not meet minimum educational requirements of amount of daily instruction and content areas covered, and social opportunities were limited. Results indicate clear areas where education professionals can improve service delivery for children with ASD.