We’ve heard from lots of parents who are struggling with home schooling at the moment. We wanted to share some advice so we asked our supporters on Facebook for their top tips for home schooling at this challenging time.

As one of our parent contributors said:

“Remember schools have teachers, secretaries, cleaners, cooks, dinner ladies and more all doing one set job role rather than juggling all of these things at once with no distractions or other demands on them during those times. So be kind to yourself, you are doing multiple job roles all at once.

It is not realistic to recreate school at home which is what is being expected of many, be kind to yourself - you’re doing an amazing job.”

We think Zoe is right, but to help you with the amazing job you’re all trying to do here’s our handy top tips shared with us by other parents of autistic children.

“We have a set routine of subjects and breaks and as long as we stick to that he is happy. He doesn’t like writing tasks so sometimes we do something different or I scribe for him.” - Elizabeth M 

“As long as we stick with a routine, my daughter is excellent. Also not pushing boundaries. eg if her class is one hour and work set takes ten mins, that’s it, she doesn’t do more. If, however she gets to the hour and hasn’t finished it, that’s it too.” - Alyson E

“I got my son's school to give us paper worksheets as I can't keep house quiet enough for the teams meetings.  This has worked for mine as he can do 10 minutes here and there when he feels he can concentrate. I always start with his favourite subject and use rewards for his least favourite subjects.” - Elizabeth A

“My son’s teachers send any lesson resources to me in advance to print out so he has them in front of him and doesn’t have to copy. We also agreed reduced homework which I send to the teacher each time so the struggles with using teams are reduced.”- Rachel H

“Remind your schools your kids need their frequent movement breaks and extra processing time so they can't be expected to complete huge workloads at home at the same pace as other kids. Whenever possible incorporate multi-sensory approaches. 

“If they have three or four different subjects or topics to cover that week it's ok to segregate it to set days for one topic a day if focusing and not jumping between subjects works better for them.Equally you can do each topic in short bursts if it helps.” - Zoe R

“I make sure the timetable is known in advance and take it at my boy’s pace. If there’s too many sums or questions I decide on how many he will do without getting stressed. Then move onto next task before meltdown happens. I mix up the timetable to suit us so try to put activities he likes after ones he doesn’t.” - Jennifer K

“We used coloured chalks and small blackboards for each day of the school week. Classes were colour-keyed by subject and for both boys, and hung in our dining room (which became the classroom) so everyone could see easily what was going on when.” - Marcie L

“We have kept to a routine (getting up, showered and dressed before breakfast) which I believe helps the kids (and my) mindset. Kids aren't overly made up to be doing the work at the start of the day but once they get into it, they have been enjoying it. Keeping to a routine throughout the day for lunch and breaks also helps.” - Andria H

“I am trying to teach in other ways - lots of word and number games, cooking, baking, meal planning and a few chores like working the washing machine, making a bed and hoovering.” - Carol M

 “I am trying to make sure I give our son plenty of opportunities to regain some control over aspects of life so that he's not battling me over things he actually needs to do (like schoolwork).

I noticed some controlling behaviours had come back and when I thought about it, our kids have lost so much of their normal lives and it was understandable that he felt like he wasn't in control. Today I left him to bake Viking bread by himself. This has worked really well and incorporated sensory play (kneading the dough).” - Emily B

Thank you to our hardworking parents for taking the time to share their experiences with us – you're all doing a fantastic job.

You might also like to read the Autism Education Trust’s Tools for Teachers Covid 19 Edition for some more helpful resources and guidance to support home schooling.